“It’s a night I will never forget” - American star Luke Lessei recalls the phone call that changed his life

Luke Lessei detailed the life-changing phone call he received from the ONE Championship Chairman and CEO, Chatri Sityodtong.

Life for a Muay Thai fighter outside of ONE Championship and a few other top-tier promotions can be brutal. Before being signed by ONE, long work days followed by grueling training sessions were normal for Luke Lessei, who is making his promotional debut against Jo Nattawut on Friday at ONE Fight Night 17.

Lessei recently posted a video on YouTube describing his reaction to Chatri Sityodtong offering him a ONE Championship contract:

“I got a message from Chatri [Sityodtong] saying he would like to sign me to ONE Championship. It was like 3:00 a.m., so it’s a night I’ll never forget. I woke up, we were feeding my newborn son, and I had to wake my wife up like, ‘Look at this. Look at this.’”

Lessei continued:

“Like I said, it’s a night I’ll never forget. Then from that day forward, I quit my job at FedEx. I was a delivery driver at FedEx and also I was loading trucks early in the morning at like 3 a.m. So, that one night where Chatri let me know that I was gonna be a ONE athlete changed everything for me.”

Jo Nattawut vs. Luke Lessei and the rest of ONE Fight Night 17 goes down at the historic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium and can be seen live and for free by North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.

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Luke Lessei is excited to fight with four-ounce gloves

Luke Lessei has a tough test waiting for him inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. With that said, the American has maintained his confidence that he will emerge victorious at ONE Fight Night 17.

While trying on the four-ounce gloves, Lessei had this in a video posted on Instagram about benefiting from the smaller equipment:

“These small gloves, I feel like especially with my style and my accuracy, I think I’m gonna benefit a lot. Especially to I’ve always worked with my hands coming from the midwest, construction worker. So, I got strong hands, and I feel like I’m finally able to put them on somebody’s face…Now with my accuracy, I’ll be able to put these on Jo Nattawut’s jaw.”

It’ll be easier said than done for Lessei to secure a win in his ONE debut. Jo Nattawut has fought several world-class featherweight fighters during his promotional tenure. 'Smokin' will also have a home-field advantage.

Only time will tell who can take a significant step toward earning a world title shot.