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Italian-Canadian fighter Jonathan Di Bella truly wants to return to the ONE strawweight kickboxing throne. He, however, recognizes that he has to take it a step at a time, beginning with his scheduled match this week with Thai legend Sam-A Gaiyanghadao for the division's interim belt.
The 28-year-old former strawweight kickboxing champion will try to move a step closer to a unification match against reigning divisional king Prajanchai PK Saenchai with a win over Sam-A at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang on March 23 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
In an interview with ONE Championship, Jonathan Di Bella spoke about his upcoming fight, touching on how a lot rides on the Sam-A fight and that he needs to come up with a win.
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He said:
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"I have to get past Sam-A. My focus is on Sam-A, for sure, 100 percent. If I don't beat Sam-A, I don't get Prajanchai."
Di Bella added:
"I gotta focus on Sam-A, but that fight means a lot to me. That's the unification we gotta get done, you know? My only loss is him and I just want to get it back."
Jonathan Di Bella was stripped of the strawweight kickboxing world title after he missed weight for this title match against Prajanchai early last year. The contest was eventually scrapped.
It was reset in June last year as a battle for the vacant belt, but Di Bella fell short in claiming it back, losing to Prajanchai by decision.
ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang is available live on pay-per-view via watch.onefc.com.
Jonathan Di Bella seeks to be more known with win at ONE 172
Along with his push to come closer to returning to the strawweight kickboxing throne, Jonathan Di Bella also seeks to shore up his popularity both in Asia and North America with a win over Sam-A Gaiyanghadao at ONE 172.
He shared this part of his campaign in an interview with ONE Championship as he descends on Japan this week to compete, saying:
"If I win and get another belt, another title, in front of Japanese fans, I'm going to be more known in Japan and in North America. I'm one of the only North Americans fighting on the card and going to be one of the only North American kickboxing champions, you know?"
Heading into ONE 172, Di Bella is coming off a bounce-back win in his last match in December, defeating Rui Botelho of Portugal by decision.
