"You have to fight offensively" - Superlek says ONE's unique kickboxing and Muay Thai ruleset promotes all-out action
ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 basks in competing in the striking arts under ONE Championship as the promotion fosters exciting action for fighters and fans alike to enjoy.
'The Kicking Machine' made his promotional debut in July 2020 and has been impressive to date, winning 11 of his 12 fights against top fighters in the game while becoming a kickboxing king along the way.
In an interview with JSL Global Media, the 28-year-old Kiatmoo9 Gym standout shared how ONE's striking arts ruleset stands out and a joy to compete in, saying:
"In ONE Championship, you have to fight offensively. You need to go all out from the first round."
Check out what he had to say below:
Under ONE Championship's global Muay Thai and kickboxing ruleset, fighters have to make their moves right away as they are only given three rounds of three minutes each to make things happen. For world championship fights it is five rounds of three minutes per round.
Judging also favors aggressive fighters, with premium given to knockdowns, damage (internal, accumulated, and superficial), number of clean strikes and aggression and cage/ring generalship.
Superlek has shown great adaptability to these rules, which has resulted to huge dividends for him.
The ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion was last in action in January at ONE 165, where he successful defended his world title against Japanese superstar Takeru Segawa by way of unanimous decision in an epic five-round battle.
Superlek happy with success he is having in kickboxing
Superlek started his ONE Championship campaign competing in the Muay Thai lane but of late, has been dipping his hands in kickboxing once again, where he has been having great success and something he is very happy about.
The Thai superstar striker re-upped with kickboxing in January 2023, vying for the vacant flyweight gold, and succeeded, beating by unanimous decision Spanish Daniel Puertas. He successfully defended it two months later, knocking out Australian-Thai fighter Danial Williams.
Superlek then made it a second triumphant defense in January, dominating Japanese legend Takeru Segawa en route to a unanimous decision victory.
Following his victory over Takeru, the Kiatmoo9 Gym standout spoke about his kickboxing campaign in ONE Championship, highlighting how it has been dream-like so far. He shared to Sportskeeda MMA in an interview:
"It's a champion's honor to defend the title and it's already like a dream, winning the belt, and defending it and just turned into kickboxing for [three] fights now and I've won every fight, good fights as well, against named guys, and I'm just very happy, I'm living the dream."
Superlek challenged for the flyweight kickboxing gold in February 2021 but lost by unanimous decision to then-reigning world champion Ilias Ennahachi of Morocco.