Bokang Masunyane looks at silver lining after his injury, says he “got to see the style” Mansur Malachiev fights with

It's never a good feeling when fighters pull out of fights due to injury, but Bokang Masunyane used his time off to study his opponents further.

Masunyane was supposed to take on Joshua Pacio in late 2023 but had to pull out of the match due to injury. That exit allowed Mansur Malachiev to take Masunyane's spot in the match against the now-reigning ONE strawweight MMA world champion.

But the South African star saw the silver lining during his recovery.

Masunyane used the fight to learn more about Malachiev's offensive style, and that ultimately paid off as the pair will now face off in a crucial strawweight MMA matchup at ONE Fight Night 25 this Friday, US primetime, at Lumpinee Stadium.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Bokang Masunyane said he was grateful to see how Malachiev stacked up against one of the promotion's most decorated world champions.

He said:

"He’s fought recently. He fought Joshua Pacio last year when I was supposed to fight Pacio but I got injured. But I got to see the style that he fights with."

Malachiev went the full three rounds against the six-time ONE strawweight MMA world champion but ultimately fell to Pacio via unanimous decision.

The Russian grappling machine recovered from the loss when he dominated former strawweight MMA king Yosuke Saruta at ONE Fight Night 19 in his next outing.

As for Masunyane, he went into study mode and downloaded every possible piece of information he could get from Malachiev's fights ahead of their Bangkok showdown this week.

Masunyane's fight against Malachiev, and the entire ONE Fight Night 25 card, is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.

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Bokang Masunyane plans to use his speed against fellow grappler Mansur Malachiev

Bokang Masunyane and Mansur Malachiev are two of the best natural grapplers in ONE Championship, and the South African star believes their wrestling bases would be critical in their Bangkok matchup.

'Little Giant', however, has one ace up his sleeve.

In the same interview with the promotion, Masunyane said he can always bank on his speed and agility to overwhelm Malachiev.

"I can always take the fight into the deep end. And I feel my speed and agility is going to play a big factor in winning this fight."