‘I Just Want To Be Champion Again’ – Jonathan Di Bella’s Journey To Reclaim Gold Begins At ONE Fight Night 26
Former ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion Jonathan Di Bella is on a mission to reclaim the 26 pounds of gold he once held – and he’s just weeks away from a pivotal clash that could earn him another shot.
On December 6 in U.S. primetime at ONE Fight Night 26: Lee vs. Rasulov on Prime Video, the Montreal native will square off with surging Portuguese contender Rui Botelho in front of a packed house at the historic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
That fight will be Di Bella’s first appearance since losing the strawweight kickboxing crown to decorated Thai superstar Prajanchai PK Saenchai in June at ONE Friday Fights 68, marking the first defeat of his professional career.
Obviously, that loss stung. But the 28-year-old striker told onefc.com that it has only fueled his motivation to reach the top of the mountain once again:
“My goal is to get my belt back – for sure, 100 percent to get my belt back. That’s my main goal.”
In his closely contested five-round decision loss to Prajanchai earlier this year, Di Bella showcased incredible toughness, grit, and technical acumen, but he ultimately came up just short. Many fans and pundits disagreed with the judges’ scorecards.
The hard-hitting Italian-Canadian is eager to face Prajanchai again – not because of any personal animosity or bad blood, but because holding a ONE World Title represents the absolute pinnacle of the striking arts:
“It was a close fight. I still lost, still came out on the short end. I just want to get the belt back, that’s all. I want to be champion. I like being champion. I love being champion, and yeah, I just want to be champion again.”
Di Bella knows that no matter how badly he wants to recapture the ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Title, he’ll first have to get past Botelho on December 6.
He’s taking his journey back to the top one fight at a time, but always with the belt on his mind:
“I believe I gotta get a win. Don’t look for any knockouts. Just go out there and perform, focus on Rui, and then whatever is next, is next. If Prajanchai is next, we’ll focus on Prajanchai for sure. But yeah, my main focus is Rui.”
Di Bella Breaks Down Botelho’s Style
It’s clear that Jonathan Di Bella is not overlooking his matchup with Rui Botelho at ONE Fight Night 26.
He’s done his homework on the Portuguese brawler and expects a war on fight night:
“[Botelho is a] very unorthodox fighter. I think he has a lot of power, a lot of speed, a lot of timing. He’s very tricky, and as far as weaknesses, I don’t see really many weaknesses, but I see that he’s very offensive. He’s more offensive than anything. He comes to fight, so that’s good.”
For his part, Botelho is a former European Kickboxing Champion who will enter the contest on an impressive two-fight winning streak and looks to finally be living up to the hype.
Di Bella plans to figure out his foe in the ring and isn’t going into the battle with any preconceived notions about how he’ll defeat Botelho. Instead, he aims to do exactly what he’s done in all but one of his previous fights – get his hand raised.
The former World Champion added:
“Whatever I have to do to win, I’ll do. I’ll see his style in the fight, during the fight, and whatever happens, happens. Maybe win by decision, win by knockout. I’m not going to look for a knockout, but anything can happen. If it comes, it comes. But it’s just to win, you know? I just play to win.”
