Nieky Holzken recalls the whirlwind of a week heading into Sinsamut Klinmee bout

Dutch kickboxing icon ‘The Natural’ Nieky Holzken believes he was unprepared to face Sinsamut Klinmee the fateful night of his unfortunate second-round knockout loss to the Thai star.

The 39-year-old veteran says it may have been due to the whirlwind of events leading up to ONE X fight week, that saw his original opponent, Islam Murtazaev, drop out at the last minute.

‘The Natural’ told ONE Championship in a recent interview:

“I was supposed to fight Islam Murtazaev and trained for 10 weeks with big [kickboxing] gloves for that fight. Four days before I was due to go to Singapore, I got a call that he could not fight.”

Of course, Holzken was eventually offered the Sinsamut Klinmee fight, an unheralded but very dangerous Thai fighter. The Dutch striker accepted.

Holzken and Sinsamut met at the historic ONE X in March of 2022. ‘The Natural’ was brutally knocked out by Sinsamut in shocking fashion.

Following the loss, Holzken said it was because he wasn’t ready to deal with the Muay Thai rule set, having prepared for a kickboxing fight the week prior.

Holzken said:

“They offered him [Sinsamut] to fight me one week later. I signed the contract, but it was not kickboxing rules. It was Muay Thai rules. I didn’t train in small gloves, but that’s my fault.”

Holzken has a chance at redemption when he steps into the ONE Championship ring for his next fight.

‘The Natural’ Nieky Holzken will face former ONE world title challenger Arian Sadikovic at ONE Fight Night 11: Eersel vs. Menshikov on Prime Video.

The event will be broadcast live from the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, June 9, and will stream absolutely free to fans in the United States and Canada with an active Amazon Prime subscription.