Danial Williams thrilled to return to his natural weight class against Jonathan Di Bella: “I’m just working on my power”

Australian-Thai fighter Danial Williams is confident of performing better in his upcoming fight now that he is competing in his natural weight class of strawweight.

‘Mini T’ will challenge for the ONE strawweight kickboxing world title at ONE Fight Night 15 on Prime Video on October 6 in Bangkok, taking on division king Jonathan Di Bella in a scheduled five-rounder.

It will be the second go of Danial Williams for a world kickboxing title after his failed bid to snatch the flyweight gold back in March.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, the Perth native said that unlike in his last fight, all feels right heading into his match at hand:

“I’m really looking forward to this fight. I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself for this one so I’m going the extra mile in training and setting aside my work and everything so that I can keep fully focused on this fight.”

He added:

“It’s a kickboxing fight so there’s a lot to prepare this time working on my kickboxing technique. I can’t wait. It’s in my natural weight division, I’m nearly ready on weight, so there’s really no pressure there, and I’m just working on my power. Everything’s going to plan at the moment.”

In his last fight, Danial Williams came in as a late-replacement opponent for ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9.

Apart from needing to sharpen his kickboxing skills in just a short time, the 30-year-old Williams, who also competes in Muay Thai and mixed martial arts under ONE, had to climb in weight to challenge for the title.

While he tried to compete, especially in the early rounds, Superlek’s size and skills were just too much to handle. Williams eventually succumbed to a knockout in the third round.

He is now looking to have none of that when he takes on Jonathan Di Bella, who is making a first defense of the world title he won in October 2022. The Italian-Canadian fighter defeated Chinese phenom Zhang Peimian by unanimous decision to win the inaugural ONE strawweight kickboxing world title in his promotional debut.

ONE Fight Night 15 will take place at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium and will be available live and for free to existing Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.