Another title fight has been added to the ONE Friday Fights 22 card. Sam-A Gaiyanghadao will rematch Prajanchai PKSaenchaigym in a bout that will have the interim strawweight Muay Thai belt on the line.
Sam-A has been scheduled to fight Kompetch Fairtex on this card which is set for Lumpinee Stadium on June 23rd. But there has been a reshuffle and he will now be rematching Prajanchai who beat him at ONE: ‘Battleground’ in 2021.
Prajanchai won the title that night. But he lost it at the hands of Joseph Lasiri, quitting on his stool before the start of the fourth round at ONE 157.
According to ONE Championship Lasiri is injured. With both men coming off wins on the promotion’s weekly fight cards at Lumpinee Stadium matchmakers decided to allow them to fight for the interim belt.
Big headliner
ONE Championship appears to be pulling out all the stops for this card. Headline fights don’t come much bigger than the heavyweight unification bout which was recently moved to June 23rd.
Regular champion Arjan Bhullar will face interim champion Anatoly Malykhin in a heavyweight unification fight at ONE Friday Fights 22. Having been postponed multiple times this match has now been brought forwards.
The fight had been set to take place at ONE Fight Night 12 at the same stadium on July 15th. Prior to that it was booked for ONE 161 last September. But Bhullar had to pull out of that event in order to undergo arm surgery.
It was then rescheduled for ONE Fight Night 8 in March. But the bout was postponed again with the promotion citing ‘a shift in broadcast commitments’.
Muay Thai
There are currently four fights confirmed for the card. It looks set to be the first time one of these events has been headlined by an MMA fight but the rest of the bouts are Muay Thai.
Nico Carrillo takes on ONE Championship veteran Muangthai PKSaenchaigym in a bantamweight bout. Meanwhile the experienced Jomhod AutoMuayThai has been matched with Akram Hamidi in a catchweight contest which is set for 120lbs.
ONE Friday Fights 22, June 23rd
MMA: Arjan Bhullar (c) vs. Anatoly Malykhin (For heavyweight title)
Sam-A Gaiyanghadao vs. Prajanchai PKSaenchaigym (For interim strawweight title)
Nico Carrillo vs. Muangthai PKSaenchaigym (Bantamweight)
Jomhod AutoMuayThai vs. Akram Hamidi (Catchweight)
