ONE Fight Night 17: Three times Roman Kryklia lit up the Circle with his terrifying power

There’s something so fearsome about Roman Kryklia, and it’s more than just his insane one-punch KO power and frightening mix of speed and accuracy.

The ONE light heavyweight kickboxing world champion and ONE Heavyweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix winner isn’t one to pull off anything extraordinary. But he knows when to jump on an opportunity to leave fighters separated from their senses.

His basics are fine-tuned to perfection, and his consistency to produce one barnburner after another is criminally underrated.

But as a man who always prefers to let his performances do the talking, he has shone throughout all of his fights on the grandest platform of combat sports – and he plans to do it once more when he headlines ONE Fight Night 17 in U.S. primetime this Friday, December 8.

As he returns to star in this striking-only card alongside Australian debutant Alex Roberts, with the inaugural ONE heavyweight Muay Thai gold on the line, let’s relive three times he’s shown why he’s an absolute force across combat sports.

#3. Roman Kryklia vs. Murat Aygun

Roman Kryklia’s monstrous power was the talk of the town as this pair of heavyweight behemoths went toe-to-toe at ONE: Full Circle in February 2022.

Indeed, it proved to be the decisive factor once more as he achieved his second world title defense against hard-hitting Murat Aygun in Singapore.

Kryklia’s height and reach advantage immediately unsettled the challenger as he swarmed into enemy territory, missing more than he connected. Still, he remained eager to let the Ukrainian athlete have a taste of his leather.

That eventually proved to be his downfall as the defending king beat him to the strike and landed a bucket of knees that left ‘The Butcher’ wincing in pain. While he was probably trying to figure out what hit him, Kryklia unleashed a hellish right that dropped him for the count.

Sensing that the end was near after the restart, the Gridin Gym affiliate delivered a body kick and a pair of hooks to confirm the victory, giving him his third consecutive win in the organization housing the most stacked striking roster.

#2. Roman Kryklia vs. Guto Inocente

Roman Kryklia’s godlike power shone the brightest in his test against Guto Inocente at ONE 161 in September last year, which earned him a spot in the inaugural ONE Heavyweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix final.

With five knockouts between the pair, both colossal fighters were always a punch away from producing the inevitable. On this night, though, it was the towering Ukrainian who left with his hand raised as he left the Brazilian down and out in under a minute.

The Gridin Gym representative dropped his guard and went berserk with his truck-like fists. From left, right, or right down the middle, he was going at full speed, looking for a quick night out in the office.

As a barricade, Inocente attempted to slow down Roman Kryklia with the brute force of his kicks. However, none of that even drew a reaction from the light heavyweight kickboxing kingpin.

Instead, it made him even more dialed up to end proceedings, and the 32-year-old caught his counterpart with a crushing right to the jaw.

The Real Combat Technique star briefly regained his footing, but a quickfire head kick got the job done at only 52 seconds of the contest – giving Roman Kryklia his fastest victory on the global stage of ONE Championship.

#1. Roman Kryklia vs. Iraj Azizpour

Roman Kryklia showcased why there’s no man or monster who can knock him off his perch at the peak of the kickboxing world in the Grand Prix final versus Iraj Azizpour at ONE 163 in November last year.

It wasn’t just rainbows and butterflies for Roman Kryklia as Azizpour unleashed hell on the Krasnograd native in the opening frame, even earning the fight’s first knockdown.

He used his teasing fists to bait his foe into range. Every time Kryklia bit, he went away like a wrecking ball with combinations that visibly left the light heavyweight kickboxing titleholder in a state of shock.

The Iranian oozed confidence as he stormed out of his corner to start the second round. But he was given a cruel reality check by the tower of power from Ukraine less than 90 seconds into the stanza.

Kryklia kept his guard tight and mixed targets, tenderizing the midsection and frame of Azizpour with trademark power and aggression. Soon, a knee, left hook, and overhand, dropped the 35-year-old.

As soon as his foe found his footing, the ONE world champion wasted no time closing the show, protruding with a final salvo of strikes that forced the referee to halt the tie at 1:28 of the second round.

The match went on to earn the promotion’s 2022 Kickboxing Fight of the Year award.

With a gallery of highlight-reel finishes inside the ONE Circle, Roman Kryklia has added weight on his shoulders to be at his best.

But as history proves, there’s no weight too heavy to bear for the ONE light heavyweight kickboxing king as he attempts to end 2023 as a two-sport king.

North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can catch the entire ONE Fight Night 17 card live and for free in U.S. primetime this Friday, December 8.