ONE Championship: “He’s making excuses” - Jonathan Di Bella responds to Prajanchai questioning his killer instinct

ONE interim strawweight kickboxing world champion Jonathan Di Bella of Canada and Italy is lobbying for a rematch against Thai tormentor Prajanchai PK Saenchai.

Prajanchai is the reigning ONE strawweight Muay Thai and kickboxing world champion who defeated Di Bella at ONE Friday Fights 68 last year to take the gold.

However, Di Bella feels Prajanchai is ducking him by not acknowledging his recent call outs, and instead, is trying to find a way out of a rematch.

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The Canadian-Italian star told Nick Atkin in a recent interview:

"Yeah. That’s how I feel. He’s making excuses. That’s for sure. He’s like using that little word there and using it up to make the fight not happen. But hopefully it happens."

Di Bella lost a five-round unanimous decision to Prajanchai at ONE Friday Fights 68 in June of 2024, with the latter taking home the ONE strawweight kickboxing world title for his efforts.

Now that Di Bella has reclaimed a part of that gold, fans fully expect the two to be booked for a rematch sometime in the near future in order to unify the world title.

Jonathan Di Bella wants to fight Prajanchai PK Saenchai no matter what: "That’s what real champions do"

If you ask Jonathan Di Bella about fighting Prajanchai PK Saenchai again, he wants it bad. But he doesn't care for any of the drama.

For the Canadian-Italian star, he says he just wants to scrap.

The veteran fighter told Nick Atkin:

"Yeah. Kind of. Again, I don’t want too much drama. I just want to get the fight when it happens. And fight. That’s what real champions do. They defend the title. That’s all I got to say."

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the latest news and updates surrounding Jonathan Di Bella's next fight.

About the author

Dan is an MMA writer with 10+ years of overall experience. Before his ongoing tenure at Sportskeeda, Dan got the opportunity to be at the forefront of the sport by contributing to ONE Championship and Fight Game Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.

Dan’s connection to MMA started during the early days of the UFC and ONE Championship. He previously practiced boxing and ranks Demetrious Johnson, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, and Fedor Emelianenko as the top five MMA fighters of all time.

He has covered several events onsite and on the ground for ONE Championship and hopes to continue doing so. He ensures that he churns out accurate articles by citing only legitimate sources and getting firsthand accounts through exclusive interviews whenever required.

Dan feels MMA fighter pay seems like an issue because it often gets compared to what fighters earn in boxing but that MMA will eventually catch up in the future.

His other interests include soccer and video games.

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Edited by C. Naik