“I do not see the point of messing around” – Natalia Diachkova confident she can break Smilla Sundell’s Thai boxing style

Russian Muay Thai sensation Natalia Diachkova will fight for gold for the first time under the ONE Championship banner at ONE Fight Night 22 on May 3rd. Across the ring from her inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium will be Smilla 'The Hurricane' Sundell, the 19-year-old phenom who currently holds the ONE strawweight Muay Thai world title.

Sundell is a product of the renowned Fairtex Training Center, one of the most successful gyms in all of Muay Thai, producing world champions across generations. Even with the heavy Thai influence on Sundell's fighting style, Natalia Diachkova is quite confident she'll come out of ONE Fight Night 22 with gold around her waist.

Diachkova told ONE Championship:

“There are many [advantages for me]. It will be a fight in small gloves and I just do not see the point of messing around and fighting in the Thai boxing style when you can miss one accurate punch and end up on the floor.”

Looks like Diachkova is looking to do things outside the book on this one. Let's see if it works on fight night.

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Natalia Diachkova questions Smilla Sundell's finishing ability

Doubling down on her upcoming opponent, Natalia Diachkova pointed out some holes in Smilla Sundell's game, particularly her ability to finish her opponents. 'Karelian Lynx' cited Sundell's kickboxing bout with Serbia's Milana Bjelogric in May last year. Despite dominating the bout from start to finish, 'The Hurricane' didn't get the coveted KO.

On this, Diachkova said:

“Like in that kickboxing fight in ONE, where she hit the girl all three rounds, but the girl kept standing. I am confident I would have finished that fight earlier.”

Let's see if 'Karelian Lynx' will do better than Bjelogric against 'The Hurricane' at ONE Fight Night 22, airing live on US Primetime on May 3 free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.