By:  | June 14, 2023 11:45 am

Amber Kitchen made a blistering start against Martine Michieletto at ONE Fight Night 11 last Saturday. The English strawweight came out swinging and had the experienced Italian on the back foot.

But Kitchen could not maintain the pace and faded as the fight went on. It allowed  Michieletto to come from behind and take the decision win after outworking her in the final two rounds.

Having lost her first three ONE Championship fights it was a serious setback for Kitchen. Michieletto’s face bore testament to the fact that the English fighter had done more damage but the Italian had stayed slightly busier.

But at the age of 24 time is very much on Kitchen’s side and she told her Instagram followers that,

My time IS coming…

 

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All guns blazing

Kitchen relocated to Leeds to prepare for this fight. She trained at Bad Company alongside ONE Championship star Liam Harrison and it appeared that the move had paid dividends when she came out all guns blazing at the beginning of the fight.

Kitchen landed a series of right hands and looked like she could be on track to secure the first win of her ONE Championship career inside the opening round. In the buildup she boasted of having ‘knockout power’ and the Italian immediately got a taste of it.

But Michieletto is not exactly lacking in experience, even if she hasn’t fought in the smaller gloves before. The Italian weathered the early storm and slowly but surely gained a foothold in the fight.

It was a solid debut for Michieletto but disappointment for Kitchen who made such a blistering start:

Back in the gym

After a long training camp followed by a grueling three round fight most fighters would have needed a holiday. But Kitchen is back in the gym already and was training at the Superpro camp in Koh Samui earlier this week.

She is clearly determined to turn her ONE Championship career around and having gone the distance for the fourth time in her most recent bout Kitchen is clearly getting plenty of experience. The challenge is to go from pushing elite strawweights all the way in these close contests to actually overtaking them and earning the victories.

After a fourth consecutive loss many fighters would be disconsolate. But Kitchen is made of sterner stuff and sounds absolutely determined to succeed with ONE Championship.