DUBAI: Two fighters will represent Morocco at global martial arts organization ONE Championship’s upcoming show ONE Fight Night 30: Kryklia vs. Knowles in the morning hours of this Saturday, April 5.
Mouhcine Chafi will face in-form English counterpart George Jarvis in a lightweight Muay Thai bout inside Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium.
Nicknamed “The Assassin,” Chafi will need to lean on his rich experience to bounce back from two consecutive defeats against top opposition, including former world title challenger Sinsamut Klinmee.
Despite his difficult start at ONE Championship, the 27-year-old Moroccan has all the skills needed to revive his career in the organization.
Chafi, who owns a 31-7 Muay Thai and kickboxing record, has beaten some of the most talented strikers in the world and picked up international Muay Thai titles, including the WBC Light Heavyweight Muay Thai championship.
Meanwhile, Chafi’s opponent, Jarvis, hopes to claim his fourth consecutive win in ONE Championship and to raise his 26-4 overall professional record.
After a split-decision debut loss, the 24-year-old English fighter went on to pick up two decision wins against Iraq’s Mustafa Al Tekreeti and Argentina’s Ricardo Bravo before scoring a knockout win against Thailand’s Rungrawee Sitsongpeenong.
While Chafi will enter his third fight in ONE Championship, Elmehdi El Jamari will be making his promotional debut on the same fight card.
El Jamari, who is the younger brother of ONE athlete Zakaria El Jamari, will face Thailand’s Thongpoon PK Saenchai in a strawweight Muay Thai bout.
The 27-year-old Moroccan fighter has won Muay Thai titles at the national, regional, and international levels. He is a seven-time Morocco Muay Thai champion, a two-time Arab Muay Thai champion, and a former world champion at reputable martial arts organizations WBC and K-1.
The 27-year-old Thai fighter had opened his promotional account with four consecutive wins — including three knockout victories — before losing to his next opponent’s older brother, Zakaria.
Most recently, Saenchai recovered from a decision loss against Rui Botelho with an impressive technical knockout victory against former world title challenger Danial Williams.
ONE Fight Night 30: Kryklia vs. Knowles will be headlined by two world title bouts. In the main event, Ukraine’s two-sport, two-weight division ONE world champion Roman Kryklia defends his ONE Heavyweight Muay Thai world championship against fellow England’s WBC Muay Thai heavyweight champion Lyndon Knowles.
Two-sport ONE world champion Regian Eersel will also defend his ONE Lightweight Kickboxing world championship in the show’s co-main event against former divisional titleholder Alexis Nicolas. The two stars are eying a decisive win in an exciting trilogy with the score tied with one win for each fighter against the other.
The show will also witness the returns of fan-favorite Seksan Or Kwanmuang, undefeated Uzbek star Sanzhar Zakirov, the debut of BJJ star Fabricio Andrey, and a pivotal featherweight Muay Thai contest between Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong and Nico Carrillo with the latter hoping to recover from his heart-breaking first promotional loss against Algeria’s Nabil Anane in their ONE Interim Bantamweight Muay Thai world title bout at ONE 170 in January.
