Jonathan Di Bella admits he’s had Sam-A Gaiyanghadao in his crosshairs: “I’ve been wanting to fight him for a while”

Former ONE strawweight kickboxing world champ Jonathan Di Bella has never been shy about the names on his hit list. Long before he ever earned his first title shot, there was already a name that stuck in his mind: Thai legend Sam-A Gaiyanghadao.

It's his dream matchup - born of a mixture of admiration and desire to test his own skills against the veteran.

"Sam-A is a legend, he’s a beast," Di Bella told Combat Sports Today. "I've been wanting to fight him for a while because when I signed with ONE Championship, he was the reigning strawweight kickboxing world champion and I was getting ready to fight him."

But the matchup never happened. Just as Di Bella was preparing for that title shot, Sam-A retired - leaving the Canadian-Italian start feeling like he was left hanging.

"And he then retired, and I was a little mad I didn’t get to fight him because I always want to beat the champion and get the belt,"

All is well that ends well, it seems. It's not like Di Bella walked away empty-handed.

"But I fought for the vacant belt and I won the belt."

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“It was going to be either me or him” - Jonathan Di Bella says fighting Sam-A for interim kickboxing belt was almost inevitable

Sam-A Gaiyanghadao's return from retirement revived Jonathan Di Bella's chance to seek closure for his original goal - to go against the Thai legend. But honestly, ever since Sam-A came back, none of this feels surprising.

The way he sees it, with them both standing at the top, it was only a matter of time.

"I was not surprised at all. He's up there. It was going to be either me or him fighting Prajanchai, or the winner. And that's what's going to happen because there's an interim title and the winner fights Prajanchai."

Jonathan Di Bella will meet Sam-A Gaiyanghadao in the Circle at ONE 172: Takeru vs Rodtang on March 23. Catch the action live via PPV on watch.onefc.com.