At ONE 172, Johnathan Di Bella would return to form after losing his kickboxing world title to Muay Thai phenom Prajanchai. He would earn interim gold against living legend Sam-A. As in their bout, Johnathan Di Bella would show his improvements with his renewed kicking and volume punching to overwhelm the former ONE Muay Thai champion.
Di Bella thoroughly chopped down the legend’s leg with karate-style leg kicks, phenomenal boxing, and hooks from his southpaw stance. That would rock the Thai legend multiple times and put him on the back foot, as Sam-A showed his age, as he wasn’t able to match Di Bella’s output and pressure. Despite being able to catch Di Bella a few times with a power shot but it just wasn’t enough to make up for sheer pressure and accuracy from the Canadian-Italian striker.
The ultimate result would be a shutout from Johnathan Di Bella as he would win a wide decision to become a champion once again in Kickboxing and is now set to face off against Prajanchai again.
Johnathan Di Bella’s revenge rematch with Prajanchai is now set in stone
With this win over Sam-A and Prajanchai’s recent dominant win over Ellis Barboza, this now sets up a very exciting rematch. Their first fight was very close, and a lot of fans believe that Johnathan Di Bella should’ve taken the win, and the Canadian was robbed. It definitely adds a new layer of stakes and drama, as this rematch will definitely be a banger.
/Winners%20&%20Losers%20header%20template%20(3).webp?ssl=1 "5 Winners and 3 Losers from the second pre-season test in Bahrain – who goes into 2026 on a high?")
