Kiamran Nabati says kickboxing stint in ONE is a possibility: “I changed my style to fight”
Russian sensation Kiamran Nabati is aiming high ahead of his bantamweight Muay Thai tilt with Thai legend Nong-O Hama, but he also wants more.
Ahead of their scheduled fight in ONE Championship's latest pay-per-view card, ONE Friday Fight 81, on September 27, Nabati mentioned that he's also thinking of challenging the promotion's top kickboxer, Jonathan Haggerty.
Indeed, he might be able to secure that opportunity if he takes out Nong-0 and the Thai's third spot in the rankings in front of the home audience inside Bangkok's iconic Lumpinee Stadium.
Although that would be a tough ask on its own, Nabati believes he will be able to do it, as he said when speaking to South China Morning Post in a recent interview.
The Archangel Michel representative said:
"Before I came to ONE Championship, I did RCC Fair Fight with kickboxing style. I changed my style to fight in kickboxing and when I came to ONE, my manager told me to change my style again and wear small gloves."
He added:
"I said ok, but I wanted to fight kickboxing. He said I need to remember my old skills and come to fight Muay Thai again. But kickboxing for me is interesting also."
Check out his full interview below:
Kiamran Nabati wants bigger, tougher opponents after Nong-O
Although Kiamran Nabati would really want to test out the newly crowned king in his division, Superlek Kiatmoo9, he knows that the queue would be slightly long.
But, Nabati knows he would not miss any chances if he's successful in defeating Nong-O Hama at ONE Friday Fights 81, with hopes to fight in a title eliminator bout against one of the division's top 5.
The 29-year-old Kiamran Nabati explained his train of thought in the same SCMP interview:
"Now, I’m only focused on this fight. After I win the fight, that’s when I can say give me Jonathan Haggerty, or Nico Carrillo, or Nabil [Anane]. We will see."
ONE Friday Fights 81 will be available via global pay-per-view through watch.onefc.com. More information about the show is available at ONE Championship's website.