“I miss home” – Jonathan Di Bella hopes to defend his belt in his adoptive state of New York

The reigning and undisputed ONE strawweight kickboxing world champion Jonathan Di Bella is having the time of his life, making the thousand-mile journey to compete in Asia under the ONE Championship banner.

The 27-year-old has visited countries like Malaysia and Thailand and even competed in the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.

However, the Canadian-Italian superstar hopes to land a spot on an upcoming ONE Championship card in the United States in 2024.

ONE Championship has penciled in four live events on United States soil for 2024, and she wants on.

Speaking to veteran journalist Ariel Helwani on a guest appearance on The MMA Hour, the 27-year-old talked about competing closer to home.

The ONE strawweight kickboxing world champion said:

“I love traveling to Thailand, it's one of my favorite countries to fight. But yeah I miss home, I miss fighting at home in New York here, yeah.”

The Canadian-Italian is currently 2-0 in the world’s largest martial arts organization, and can’t wait to get back to action to defend his belt once more.

Jonathan Di Bella looks for a spot on ONE Fight Night card in the U.S.

ONE Championship made history in 2023 when it held its first live on-ground event in the U.S. in May.

ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video broadcast live from a sold-out crowd at the 1stBank Arena in Denver, Colorado last May 5th, and broke all sorts of viewership records for ONE Championship.

With the promotion’s four U.S. events in 2024, the 27-year-old is hoping to find himself on at least one of them, and that it’s in New York.

She was last seen in action in a unanimous decision victory over Australian-Thai Danial ‘Mini T’ Williams at ONE Fight Night 15: Le vs. Freymanov.

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the news and updates surrounding Jonathan Di Bella’s next fight.