Natalia Diachkova says her experience and hard-hitting fists will be the difference vs Muay Thai queen Smilla Sundell
Natalia Diachkova will look to pull off an upset at ONE Fight Night 22 as the challenger for the ONE strawweight Muay Thai world championship.
The Russian competitor has made a strong impression during her appearances on the ONE Friday Fights series, where she has racked up an impressive winning streak.
However, on her main roster debut, she faces the queen of the division when she challenges Smilla Sundell for the gold inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.
In a recent interview with ONE Championship, Natalia Diachkova spoke about where she believes she holds the advantage in this fight.
The challenger highlighted her power, how she uses it and her high level experience as the things that seperate her from Sundell:
"My advantage is my hard punches and [my ability] to work with a series of combinations, as well as my experience in the ring."
Landing power shots will be easier said than done for Natalia Diachkova
A lot of opponents will come into a fight with Smilla Sundell with hopes of closing the distance and letting their hands go like Natalia Diachkova.
The struggle for many of them is that landing clean on the strawweight champion is difficult enough but navigating your way through the range of the titleholder is a whole new challenge all by itself.
Sundell has a reach advantage over pretty much everyone she fights and whilst she could easily choose to strike off the back foot, her aggressive style often keeps opponents right on the end of her punches unless she wants to get in close to land elbows and knees.
The divisional queen is excellent at controlling the fight but this is something that Diachkova will be well prepared for thanks to her experience.
Whether she has the power to seriously put her opponent in danger remains to be seen but we will find out on May 3 in Bangkok, Thailand.
ONE Fight Night 22 will air live in U.S. primetime for North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription.