Zhang Peimian says he dropped Rui Botelho and should have gotten a knockdown in their close match: “He looked dizzy”

Chinese kickboxing superstar ‘The Fighting Rooster’ Zhang Peimian says he did more than enough to beat Portuguese striking savant Rui Botelho, and believes he even scored a knockdown in their close three-round affair last weekend.

Peimian locked horns with Botelho in a kickboxing bout on the main card of ONE Fight Night 16: Haggerty vs. Andrade on Prime Video, which took place live from the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand last Saturday, November 4th.

The action was intense and fierce throughout, but Botelho managed to eke out a close but hotly contested split decision. The fight was so close, it could have gone either way, but a knockdown would have swung the pendulum in Peimian’s favor.

ONE Championship recently posted a short clip of the sequence in question, which shows ‘The Fighting Rooster’ landing a punch, and then Botelho clearly dipping toward the canvas.

Check out the clip below:

A knockdown for Peimian here would have resulted in a 10-8 round for the Chinese star under the 10-point must system.

In a post-fight interview with the South China Morning Post, Peimian shared the reason why he thought it was definitely a knockdown.“I think it’s definitely a knockdown. Because when he stood up, he looked a bit dizzy. As soon as he got up, I was pushing forward. So I don’t know why the judge didn’t score that as a knockdown.”

Things happen in the heat of the moment, and unfortunately for Peimian, that’s all water under the bridge now, knockdown or not. The only logical resolution to this problem would be for the two to run it back.

Fans in the United States and Canada can catch a replay of all the action at ONE Fight Night 16: Haggerty vs. Andrade via replay on demand on Amazon Prime Video.