“You always have to learn” - Jonathan Di Bella thankful Prajanchai rivalry pushed him to become a better fighter

The evolution of undisputed ONE strawweight kickboxing world champion Jonathan Di Bella was on full display at ONE Fight Night 36 on Prime Video.

As far as the Italian-Canadian superstar is concerned, his immense growth wouldn’t be made possible without his rival Prajanchai PK Saenchai.

Di Bella absorbed the lone loss of his career in his first meeting with the legendary Thai fighter last year.

The 29-year-old clawed his way back and earned a rematch with his tormentor, winning decisively via a dominant unanimous decision on October 3 in Bangkok.

After moving to 15-1 and staking his claim as the best 125-pound striker in the world, Di Bella thanked Prajanchai for pushing him to improve:

During the post-event interview, Jonathan Di Bella said:

"Yeah, 100 percent. You know, you always have to learn after every fight, even if you win. Not only if you lose, you have to learn from your performances. Even when you win, you have to learn and always go back to your drawing board with your coaches and your team.”

Di Bella also credited his father, Angelo, a former multi-time kickboxing world champion, for orchestrating the perfect game plan in their rematch. He added:

“My dad had a master plan behind it—he brought in all my trainers, he brought in everybody. My whole team, thank you for coming. My mom, my dad, Justin, Howard, Peter—thank you guys for all coming in. We did it tonight. We did it."

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Jonathan Di Bella remains highly critical about his ONE Fight Night 36 performance

Jonathan Di Bella has set the highest standards for himself. Fans and pundits alike agree that his world title unification victory against Prajanchai was about as perfect a performance as could be.

However, Jonathan Di Bella argues he could still turn it up a notch. He told ONE:

"I rate my performance maybe an 8-7.5. I could've done a bit better. I could've done a bit better. There's always room for improvement, you know?"

The complete ONE Fight Night 36 event is available for on-demand viewing for North American Prime Video subscribers.