"We made a good show" - Ilias Ennahachi gives Hiroki Akimoto props for surviving hard knockdown against him

At ONE Friday Fights 81, Ilias Ennahachi returned to ONE Championship with a statement performance. The former flyweight kickboxing world champion had been gone for some time but was looking to insert himself back in the mix.

Now that he is competing at bantamweight, Ennahachi drew former world champion Hiroki Akimoto for his comeback fight. The two men put on a great show at Lumpinee Stadium this past weekend which went the way of the returning fighter.

He dropped his opponent heavily in the opening round but the toughness of Akimoto saw him recover quickly. In a post-fight interview with Nick Atkin, Ennahachi spoke about his respect for his opponent and his overall feelings about the fight:

"I am very respectful of Akimoto. He's a very nice guy, a very hard fighter. When I knocked him down and the fight was [almost] stopped, I was also happy because maybe I could have won the bonus. But I'm also happy for the three-round fight because we made a good show for the fans and the fans paid for this, so I'm very happy."

He added that next time around, he's looking for that extra paycheck after going the distance:

"No problem. Next time, I'm going to take the bonus, Inshallah."

Watch the full interview below:

Ilias Ennahachi is aiming for the top

After defeating a former world champion Hiroki Akimoto, there isn't much more for Ilias Ennahachi to do in this weight class. He's got his eyes firmly set on the world championship which currently belongs to Jonathan Haggerty.

As the former flyweight champion, Ennahachi knows what it takes to become a world champion and wants that feeling again.

Following his performance against Akimoto at Lumpinee Stadium, it's clear that he still has it in him to go all the way.

The replay of ONE Friday Fights 81 is available at watch.onefc.com for those who purchased the PPV.