ONE Championship: Murat Aygun is beaming with confidence ahead of title clash

Murat Aygun owns world titles across some of the biggest striking promotions. However, the Dutch-Turkish star believes there is still a bigger and far greater world title he has yet to add to his collection.

The 33-year-old hopes to complete his haul when he faces Roman Kryklia for the ONE light heavyweight kickboxing world title at ONE: Heavy Hitters on Friday, January 14.

He understands that the defending world champion has a lot of physical advantages over him. Nevertheless, he trusts that his precision and forward pressure will see him leave the Circle with the golden strap.

Aygun recently told ONE Championship:

“Roman Kryklia can’t hurt me. I have fought against guys of 130, 140 kilograms and even those guys couldn’t knock me down with their hard hits... My fighting style is aggressive; counter-attacking. Sometimes I’ll take one to give two. That has always been my style.”

He was booked to make his promotional debut against Kryklia in December 2020, but the Ukrainian behemoth was forced to withdraw from the contest due to COVID-19 protocols.

He showed combat sports enthusiasts why he is a world title challenger by dominating Kryklia’s replacement, Brazilian veteran Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva, throughout their three-round fight.

Murat Aygun warns Kryklia: “You’re going down”

Murat Aygun has spent the past 12 months touching up his world-class striking assortment. With that in mind, he is now primed and ready for a career-defining moment against the world champion.

The SB Gym representative relishes his role as the underdog and continues his series of mind games with Kryklia ahead of their showdown in Singapore.

Expand Tweet

Murat Aygun told ONE:

“Roman Kryklia, you think I’m easy prey? I’m going to show what easy is. You’re going down.”

He added that his quick movements should frustrate the Ukrainian striker in their co-main event fight. Aygun says that when he gets the chance, he will connect with powerful strikes to get the job done.

“What I need to do is apply my pressure like I normally do. Fans can expect me to go forward aggressively, punch a lot, evade a lot and counter-attack.”

We'll find out whether or not Murat Aygun can make good on his prediction come fight night on January 14.