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Jonathan Di Bella returned to training two weeks after defeating Sam-A.
At ONE 172, Di Bella secured arguably the most impressive win of his ONE Championship tenure, a unanimous decision against the legendary Sam-A to secure the interim strawweight kickboxing world title.
Di Bella's winning performance wasn't enough to satisfy him, as he returned to training shortly after the March 23 event. The Canadian-Italian had this to say during an interview with Nick Atkin about preparing for his next:
"Yeah, I’ve been back training and sparring since my last fight. I’ve been training two weeks after my Sam-A fight. And then I took a vacation for a week, I was still training light, but now I’m back training at full speed."
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Jonathan Di Bella started his ONE Championship tenure with consecutive wins against Zhang Peimian and Danial Williams, winning and defending the undisputed strawweight kickboxing world title in the process.
In June 2024, Di Bella suffered his lone promotional defeat, a title-losing unanimous decision against Prajanchai.
The Canadian-Italian superstar has since bounced back with unanimous decision wins against Rui Botelho and Sam-A.
Watch Di Bella's entire interview with Atkin below:
Jonathan Di Bella maintains an underdog mentality heading into the inevitable Prajanchai rematch
Prajanchai has yet to defend his ONE strawweight kickboxing world title since taking it from Jonathan Di Bella last year.
Although it's unconfirmed by ONE, the two world-class strikers could be matched up for a rematch later this year.
During the previously mentioned interview, Di Bella had this to say about considering himself an underdog in a potential second fight against Prajanchai:
"But in my mind, I know I still got a task to do—to take the belt from the champ. So I’m still the underdog, he’s the champion. So I gotta take his belt."
Following his win against Jonathan Di Bella, Prajanchai returned to Muay Thai and defended his strawweight world title. The two-sport champion defeated Ellis Badr Barboza with a fourth-round finish, extending his promotional records to 5-1 in Muay Thai and 2-0 in kickboxing.
At 28 years old, Di Bella plans to avenge his lone professional kickboxing loss and regain undisputed gold when he inevitably fights Prajanchai in a rematch.
Watch the first fight between Di Bella and Prajanchai below:
