“It was a little bit of an adjustment” - Prajanchai admits he didn’t really feel like a fish out of water for kickboxing transition
Despite having to make a bit of adjustment, newly-crowned two-sport king Prajanchai PK Saenchai felt fairly comfortable in his kickboxing duel at ONE Friday Fights 68.
Two months after their originally scheduled scrap was nixed at the last minute, the reigning ONE strawweight Muay Thai world champion finally had the opportunity to step inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand for a clash with Jonathan Di Bella for the vacant ONE strawweight kickboxing world title.
Prajanchai, who had only competed in kickboxing once before under the ONE Championship banner, more than held his own against the Canadian-Italian striker. After five rounds of entertaining action, the Thai was crowned the victory via unanimous decision, making him the promotion's latest two-sport titleholder.
Asked about the challenges of transitioning from Muay Thai to kickboxing following the fight, he told members of the media that outside of a few minor adjustments. i.e. knees and elbows, it was a fairly simple switch.
"It's not too difficult. It's doable, of course," he said at the ONE Friday Fights 68 post-fight press conference. "I have spent a lot of time training so all the things that cannot be done in kickboxing, the elbows and the knees, we just omitted all of those. So it was a little bit of an adjustment, but of course, it could be done."
Jonathan Di Bella wants an immediate rematch with Prajanchai at ONE 169 in Atlanta
It's been a rough couple of months for Jonathan Di Bella.
After surrendering his belt in April following a failed hydration test, the 27-year-old star has seen his 'O' go, suffering his first career loss against Prajanchai in The Land of Smiles.
Speaking with Sportskeeda following his latest setback, Di Bella called for an immediate rematch with the Thai, believing that he did enough to walk away with the victory.
“I thought I won. Respect to Prajanchai he’s a great champion but I believe I won that fight. Hopefully we get to do a rematch in the US. I thought he would have been stronger but I didn't feel much of his power.”
Though nothing has been announced, Di Bella and his manager are pushing hard for the rematch to go down on November 8 when ONE Championship heads to State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia for ONE 169.
Do you want to see Prajanchai and Di Bella run it back after their epic encounter in Thailand?
If you missed any of the action, you can watch the ONE Friday Fights 68 replay on demand via watch.onefc.com.