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Superbon Banchamek made waves in the combat sports community by knocking out Giorgio Petrosyan at ONE: First Strike.
The newly crowned ONE Championship featherweight kickboxing champion became one of only two fighters in the world to knock Petrosyan out. The big question now is, who's next for Superbon?
The ONE kickboxing featherweight Grand Prix is ongoing and Superbon will have to wait to see who comes out on top.
The Thai kickboxer is slated to defend his championship against the Grand Prix champion. The tournament has boiled down to four contenders.
Marat Grigorian, Chingiz Allazov, Davit Kiria and Sitthichai all made it to the semi-finals and Superbon already has his eyes set on his next opponent.
"From those four athletes, if you ask me who I would like to face, I would say Marat Grigorian. I lost against him last time and I would want a rematch. However, between these four athletes, if you were to ask me who I would like to win, it would be Sitthichai," said Superbon in the post-match press conference.
Unfinished business to be settled in ONE Championship
Superbon still doesn't consider himself the GOAT in kickboxing after beating Petrosyan. He firmly believes that he needs to keep fighting and defending the belt will make him enter the conversation.
Despite holding the featherweight title, there are still fighters that Superbon has yet to conquer. On that note, Marat Grigorian is his preferred opponent. Superbon lost to Grigorian at KunLun Fight 69 in February 2018.
The 31-year-old fighter claims to have vastly improved compared to the last time he fought Marat. Getting knocked out twice by the same fighter won't happen again, promised Superbon.
One fighter that Superbon feels will have the best chance of winning the Grand Prix is fellow Thai fighter Sitthichai. However, having fought his countryman three times in the past, he would prefer not to face Sitthichai.
Speaking about a fight against Sitthichai, Superbon said:
"I think in the near future, I might get a chance to compete with him again. We are in the same weight class. If you ask me to be honest, I don’t want to fight with him because we are friends. We’re countrymen."
Superbon leads Sitthichai 2-1 in their three fights so far. Sitthichai took the first win but Superbon bounced back with two consecutive victories.
