“People said I gave up” - Two-sport champ Prajanchai recalls his bitter upset defeat against Joseph Lasiri

Reigning ONE strawweight Muay Thai and kickboxing world champion Prajanchai PK Saenchai of Thailand came into ONE Championship like a ball of fire, steamrolling the competition. That is, of course, until he ran into Italian-Moroccan firecracker 'The Hurricane' Joseph Lasiri.

Prajanchai and Lasiri faced off at ONE 157 in May of 2022, in just the Thai icon's second appearance in the ONE Championship ring. Prajanchai lost via Round 3 technical knockout.

Speaking about the experience, he told on The ONE Podcast:

"I suffered a bad cut under my eye. People said I gave up, but I rarely get cut in fights. That day, blood was flowing continuously for 3 minutes. When I went to my corner, there was a moment when I held onto the ring ropes because I felt faint. The referee asked if I could continue, and I decided I couldn't because I was about to pass out."

Needless to say, Prajanchai would exact revenge a year later and earn the victory in even more impressive fashion.

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Prajanchai lived to fight another day against Joseph Lasiri: "I could come back and fix my mistakes"

Prajanchai PK Saenchai maintains that he did not 'give up' against Joseph Lasiri. Instead, he made the calculated decision to preserve his mental and physical health in order to come back and exact revenge one day.

Prajanchai told The ONE Podcast how he arrived at that decision.

"I wasn't knocked out - I chose to stop because of medical concerns. There have been cases of fighters dying in the ring, so I had to protect myself. I may have lost that day, but it wasn't a permanent defeat - I could come back and fix my mistakes, which I eventually did by reclaiming the championship."

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the latest news and updates surrounding Prajanchai PK Saenchai's next fight.