Jonathan Di Bella realizes where it all went wrong against Prajanchai: "I let him play his match"

ONE strawweight kickboxing star Jonathan Di Bella acknowledged his mistakes that led to ONE strawweight Muay Thai world champion Prajanchai PK Saenchai claiming the then-vacant 125-pound kickboxing crown at ONE Friday Fights 68 this past June.

Speaking exclusively with Sportskeeda MMA, the former strawweight kickboxing king stated:

"In the last two rounds, I believe, like, I let him play his match: Like I was going to his match with the knees and letting him clinch. He was clinching a lot. I feel like he was holding a lot, clinching a lot, which is more Muay Thai style, so I feel like the ref could have warned him a bit more with the holding and clinching."

He continued:

"But other than that, I feel like I did everything well. I just maybe could have stayed more with the jabs in the later rounds."

Aside from failing to reclaim the ONE strawweight kickboxing world championship, losing to Prajanchai also ended Di Bella's vaunted 13-fight winning streak.

The 28-year-old will look to return to his winning ways with a statement victory over Rui Botelho at ONE Fight Night 26 on Dec. 6, inside the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

---

Jonathan Di Bella at peace with first career defeat

Going undefeated throughout one's pro career is a goal for many fighters, but it was never in Jonathan Di Bella's plans.

He recently told Sportskeeda MMA:

"I never wanted to be undefeated. It was never my thing to think about being undefeated. I always wanted to, like, just fight. I just wanted to go fight the best in the world and be champion, and what hurt me the most was not being a world champion, you know? The record for me didn't matter."

ONE Fight Night 26 will air live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.