ONE Championship News Roundup

Welcome to today's edition of the daily Sportskeeda ONE Championship News Roundup, where we present the promotion's most important stories.

Today, we’ll discuss Danial Williams’ Muay Thai return when he takes on Rui Botelho, Liam Harrison trying to fight through injury to box Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Reinier de Ridder looking to avenge his loss to Anatoly Malykhin.

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#3. Danial Williams returns to Muay Thai to face Rui Botelho at ONE Fight Night 8

Aussie firebrand Danial Williams is set to make his return to Muay Thai when he takes on Rui Botelho at ONE Fight Night 8 on Prime Video.

Williams made his ONE Championship debut in Muay Thai when he took on Thai superstar Rodtang Jitmuangnon in a catchweight bout at ONE on TNT I in April 2021. He’s since competed under MMA in his next four fights, three of which he won consecutively.

A little less than two years later, ‘Mini T’ is back in his natural discipline.

The scrappy Australian holds highlight reel wins over Thai legend Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke, Namiki Kawahara, and Zelang Zhaxi.

Botelho, for his part, is a six-fight veteran in ONE Championship, having competed in Muay Thai and kickboxing.

ONE Fight Night 8 is set for March 24 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and will be available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.

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#2. Liam Harrison admits he tried to fight through knee injury to box Floyd Mayweather

British striking superstar Liam Harrison was still recovering from his knee injury when he got word that iconic boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. wanted to fight him in an exhibition boxing match.

Harrison suffered the injury when he lost to ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nong-O Hama at ONE on Prime Video 1 in August 2022. He then booked his surgery for January 2023, a couple of weeks before Mayweather’s team reached out to him for the exhibition match.

In an interview with The MMA Superfan, Harrison admitted that he tried to fight through the pain and take advantage of the opportunity:

“I booked the surgery for the 30th of January and then mid-January. I just got called up by Floyd Mayweather’s team saying, ‘Look, he wants to come to do an exhibition in London.’”

He added:

“He asked me about this, so I thought, ‘Wow, that this is an amazing opportunity,’ and so I asked the guys at ONE, ‘Can I get signed off?’ I said [to Mayweather’s team], ‘No, I’m not able to fight Muay Thai at the minute but I think I can be able to get through a month’s training just doing boxing.’”

Harrison, however, wasn’t cleared for the bout and the opportunity to box Mayweather fell to reality TV star Aaron Chalmers.

Check out the entire interview below:

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#1. Reinier de Ridder doesn’t want to be "a little bi**ch" and looks to avenge loss to Anatoly Malykhin

Prior to his latest fight, Reinier de Ridder was an unstoppable force throughout his mixed martial arts career. He was also 7-0, with five finishes, in ONE Championship during his run with the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world titles.

‘The Dutch Knight’ had perfect luster on him. That was until he met the rampaging Anatoly Malykhin in his eighth match in ONE Championship.

The ONE interim heavyweight world champion challenged de Ridder for the light heavyweight belt at ONE on Prime Video 5.

‘Sladkiy’ pulled off one of the most dominant world title wins in ONE Championship history. Malykhin bludgeoned de Ridder to snatch the gold in the first round.

De Ridder, who lost one of his world titles and his precious perfect slate in ONE Championship, said in an interview with South China Morning Post that he’s not going to sulk on the defeat and instead get back at Malykhin:

“All in all, what I’ve taken from it is I can be a little b*tch and whine about it for the next couple of years, or I could set things straight and learn from this and grow. And I intend on being the best fighter in the world still, and I intend to avenge this loss."

Catch de Ridder's interview below: