Joseph Lasiri says Zhang Peimian’s next opponent may fold under the bright lights of ONE

ONE strawweight Muay Thai world champion Joseph Lasiri believes 'Fighting Rooster' Zhang Peimian’s next opponent could fold under the pressure of competing on ONE Championship’s global stage this Friday night.

At ONE Fight Night 8 on Prime Video, ‘Fighting Rooster’ will make his return to the Circle for a clash with ONE debutant Torepchi Dongak, a mysterious 23-year-old Russian kickboxer with two junior kickboxing world championships to his credit. Nobody truly knows what to expect when Dongak makes his first walk on Friday night, but Joseph Lasiri believes the moment could simply be too big for the strawweight striker. While talking to The MMA Superfan, Lasiri said:

“I think you know the tension before the fight, when you fight in a stage like ONE Championship, it’s very different. I think experience is a good card for this. Without experience, it’s more difficult to fight in ONE Championship. But I hope that this thing won’t be a problem for Zhang’s opponent and we’ll see another good challenger in the strawweight kickboxing division.”

After impressive back-to-back wins against Josh Tonna and Aslanbek Zikreev last year, Zhang Peimian came up short in his first ONE world title opportunity, losing via unanimous decision in a five-round war against Jonathan Di Bella at ONE 162.

‘Fighting Rooster’ is eager to get another crack at Di Bella, but first, he’ll need to secure a win over his ONE Fight Night 8 opponent.

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Zhang Peimian was unable to locate details regarding ONE Fight Night 8 opponent

Scouting one’s opponent is a fairly routine practice in virtually every competitive sport, but at ONE Fight Night 8, Zhang Peimian will be going in essentially blind. ‘Fighting Rooster’ revealed in a recent interview with ONE Championship that he struggled to locate any information regarding his opponent, Torepchi Dongak.

“It is really hard to dig up any information about him, so I can’t tell whether he’s good or not,” Peimian said. “But anyway, we accept whoever gets in front of us we will take him out and keep on chasing the gold.”

Despite having an opponent seemingly shrouded in mystery, Peimian vs. Dongak could very well be one of the evening’s most interesting fights. Surely, if ONE Championship is giving the young Russian a spot on Prime Video, he must show a significant amount of promise. That alone makes the matchup intriguing, but then when you add in the speed and explosiveness of Zhang Peimian, it quickly becomes one of the evening’s most anticipated contests.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers can catch ONE Fight Night 8 live and for free in U.S. primetime this Friday night.