By:  | November 11, 2023 5:53 pm

Joseph Lasiri will be stepping in the ring for the first time this year at ONE Friday Fights 46. He will be making the first defence of the strawweight Muay Thai title he won in 2022 and rematches former champion Prajanchai PKSaenchaigym.

Lasiri beat Prajanchai to win the belt in 2022. It was seen as a major upset at the time with the Italian making the multiple time Lumpinee and Rajadamnern champion quit on his stool at the end of the third.

Since then Prajanchai has been the busier of the two men and has captured the ONE Championship interim strawweight kickboxing title by beating Sam-A Gaiyanghadao. This will be a unification bout as well as a rematch with the Thai looking for his fourth win of the year at Lumpinee Stadium.

Lasiri’s last fight took place at the tail end of 2022. He dropped down to flyweight to challenge Muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon but was beaten by decision.

Three titles

This takes the number of title fights on the card to three. As previously announced the featherweight Muay Thai title fight between champion Tawanchai PKSaenchaigym and challenger Superbon Banchamek has been rescheduled for ONE Friday Fights 46.

The fight had originally been booked for ONE Fight Night 15 earlier this month. Superbon pulled out after tearing his calf muscle but  made a rapid recovery and it was rebooked for ONE Fight Night 17.

Tawanchai was hospitalized with a viral infection and pulled out of that fight. Instead of taking place on one of the Prime Video cards it will now be on a Friday night.

 

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Switching codes

Tawanchai ended up facing Jo Nattawut in a kickboxing fight at ONE Fight Night 15 instead of Superbon. He won but it wasn’t a particularly impressive performance from the reigning featherweight Muay Thai champion.

His opponent had been in the process of establishing himself as the best kickboxer in the world at the weight. Superbon went on an incredible run that saw him beat Sittichai Sitsongpeenong, Giorgio Petrosyan and Marat Grigorian.

He lost his title and his momentum after getting knocked out by Chingiz Allazov at ONE Fight Night 6 earlier this year. Superbon bounced back to stop Tayfun Ozcan in the second round so it is something of a surprise to see the 32 year old switching codes.

He has been focused on kickboxing in recent years and Superbon will be looking to win a Muay Thai title for the first time since 2018.

Winning streak

While Superbon has been focused on kickboxing for the past seven years Tawanchai is one of the top pound for pound Muay Thai fighters in the world. He has beaten some of the biggest names in the division and been on a particularly impressive run of his own with ONE Championship.

Tawanchai’s winning streak currently stands at five and he has finished three of those fights within the distance. At ONE 161 he beat Petchmorrakot Petchyindeegym by decision to win the featherweight Muay Thai title.

Tawanchai followed that up with a knockout win over Jamal Yusupov at ONE Fight Night 7 in February. Since then he has secured an impressive stoppage win over Davit Kiria and a narrow decision victory against Jo Nattawut.

Long awaited

As previously announced Anissa Meksen makes her long awaited comeback on this card. The French fighter will face Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom in an interim atomweight kickboxing title match at ONE Friday Fights 46.

Meksen no showed the weigh ins ahead of ONE Fight Night 6 in January. The decision cost her nearly an entire year as she has been sitting on the sidelines ever since.

She had been promised a shot at the interim atomweight kickboxing belt. That opportunity seemed to slip away from Meksen when she tried to renegotiate the terms of her mixed rules fight with Stamp Fairtex at the last minute.

 

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Fast start

But Meksen, who has won three fights out of three for ONE Championship, will finally get to challenge for that belt in December. Phetjeeja only made her promotional debut in January but has already stopped four opponents at Lumpinee Stadium.

Having impressed on the weekly cards she was handed an opportunity to compete at ONE Fight Night 15 last month. It was Phetjeeja’s first time fighting on Prime Video and she stopped Celest Hansen in the third round.

Marquee event

These events take place at Lumpinee Stadium every Friday night. Every four months or so the matchmakers pull out all the stops for a special card and this looks set to be one of those.

ONE Friday Fights 34 was the last marquee event and it reportedly broke several viewing records. Superlek Kiatmoo9 beat Rodtang Jitmuangnon in the headline fight and fans in Thailand will be excited to see what the card on December 22nd looks like.

ONE Friday Fights 46, Bangkok, December 22nd
Muay Thai: Tawanchai PKSaenchaigym (c) vs. Superbon Banchamek (For featherweight title)
Kickboxing: Anissa Meksen vs. Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom (For interim atomweight title)
Muay Thai: Joseph Lasiri (c) vs. Prajanchai PKSaenchaigym (For strawweight title)