Joseph Lasiri casts his pick to win Zhang Peimian vs. Torepchi Dongak

Joseph ‘The Hurricane’ Lasiri believes Zhang Peimian will leave the Singapore Indoor Stadium with a win this Friday night.

The ‘Fighting Rooster’ will be back in action and will look to get back into the win column after coming up short against Jonathan Di Bella in his last outing at ONE 162. Standing in his way will be ONE Championship debutant Torepchi Dongak, a Russian kickboxer with two junior kickboxing world championship titles to his credit.

In an interview with The MMA Superfan, ONE strawweight Muay Thai titleholder Joseph Lasiri shared his prediction for the highly anticipated kickboxing showcase at ONE Fight Night 8 on Prime Video:

“For me Zhang will be the winner of the match, for sure 100 percent... He deserves another shot against Di Bella for the strawweight kickboxing belt. For me, I hope Zhang can win over his opponent and call out Jonathan Di Bella for the second time.”

After two impressive showings, Zhang Peimian earned his first ONE world title opportunity, squaring off with Canadian-Italian striker Jonathan Di Bella in October. ‘Fighting Rooster’ came up short, losing the bout via unanimous decision after five hard-fought rounds, but a decisive win over the highly-touted Russian Torepchi Dongak on Friday night could put him right back in the mix for a ONE strawweight kickboxing world title opportunity.

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Zhang Peimian hopes to one day face kickboxing legend Takeru Segawa

Just 19 years old, Zhang Peimian has a long and prosperous career ahead of him that will undoubtedly include a world championship strapped around his waist, but ‘Fighting Rooster’ refuses to stop there. The Chinese kickboxing prodigy also hopes to one day compete against K-1 kickboxing legend Takeru Segawa:

"The original dream, the original goal was to fight Takeru… I believe somewhere in the future, we will have this fight. Definitely."

Peimian is far from the first fighter to dream about competing against the K-1 icon. ‘The Iron Man’ Rodtang Jitmuangnon has called for a contest against Takeru for years, but thus far, the two parties have remained under separate organizations.

At 31 years old, Takeru still has many years left to compete at the highest level, leaving ONE fans and a slew of fighters hopeful that one day they’ll see the Japanese mega-star step inside the circle to compete against the world’s best kickboxing competitors and Muay Thai practitioners.