“I want to face someone that would make noise” – Teenage phenom Johan Ghazali describes his perfect next opponent

Johan Ghazali’s confidence was on show at ONE Fight Night 17 as the teenage phenom made his main roster debut inside the circle.

In one of the night’s most anticipated matchups, he took on former ONE flyweight Muay Thai world championship title challenger Edgar Tabares. The 17-year-old striker has made quite the impact on the ONE Friday Fights series, but his real coming out party took place this past weekend.

After making quick work of Tabares, Ghazali only wants to continue pushing forwards onto bigger and better challenges.

He spoke about the kind of opponent he wants to test himself against next time out during his post-fight interview:

“Against who? I don't know. I feel like I want to face someone that would make noise, you know? Someone that would like, really show people that I belong here. So maybe someone like Taiki or Dedduanglek or, I don't know. Someone that I can prove myself to, yeah.”

Watch the full post-fight interview below:

North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE Fight Night 17 via the free event replay.

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Johan Ghazali could be set for a huge year in 2024

When you talk about the biggest breakthrough stars in ONE Championship throughout 2023, Johan Ghazali has to make it onto any shortlist.

Balancing his career as a striker while still being in secondary school, the teenager isn’t just impressing each time out, he’s putting opponents away in style.

Most importantly, he appears to be hungry to keep challenging himself as seen in his callouts of opponents that will once again provide a step up for him in his career.

Johan Ghazali is certainly one to watch going into 2024 after a remarkable year that saw him become the youngest six-figure contract winner in the history of the promotion.