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At ONE 162, Jonathan Di Bella became the new ONE strawweight kickboxing world champion in a main event that delivered on the hype.
In a back-and-forth contest with China’s Zhang Peimian, Di Bella produced a fifth-round knockdown to sway the bout in his favor and win a unanimous decision. Making history as the first male North American world champion in ONE’s all-striking divisions, Jonathan Di Bella also maintained his undefeated record.
In his post-fight interview, Di Bella spoke about how it felt to win the world championship in this manner:
“It means a lot. Especially coming here in his territory, and in Asia, and everybody had it against me. And there was I believe it was 75-25% for him against all odds I told you, I was going to give you a war. I told you I was going to do my talking in the Circle, and I did.”
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Di Bella and Peimian produced an instant classic where everything was on the line going into the final round. Di Bella was then able to land the biggest shot of the fight and drop his opponent with a left high kick.
Whilst Di Bella may have emerged as the victor, the 19-year-old ‘Fighting Rooster’ will have also won the adoration of the fans for the part he played in the phenomenal world title contest.
Georges St-Pierre congratulates Jonathan Di Bella on world title-winning performance at ONE 162
Following his world title win, Jonathan Di Bella received praise from a true legend of combat sports. Di Bella and Zhang Peimian produced an instant classic at ONE 162 where the Canadian-Italian was able to rally in the final round and land a knockdown to sway the scorecards in his favor.
Fellow Canadian and former two-division UFC Champion Georges St-Pierre congratulated Di Bella via his Instagram story:
“New Champion 👏 Congrats @jondibella.”
Whilst Di Bella may have emerged as champion, both men came away as winners after an incredible back-and-forth contest.
Despite being on the wrong end of the scorecards, the 19-year-old Peimian put up a fantastic performance of his own and showed great heart to withstand Di Bella’s late onslaught.
