All martial arts content – including ONE Championship coverage – has been made freely available. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.
ONE Championship has rescheduled Tawanchai PK Saenchai’s Muay Thai title fight against Superbon Singha Mawynn for December 22, a source has told the Post.
The highly anticipated bout will bolster a stacked year-end ONE Friday Fights 46 card at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok.
It was all set to headline ONE Fight Night 17 on Prime Video on December 9 at the same venue, but Tawanchai withdrew from the bout after spending a week in hospital with a “serious virus”.
Tawanchai was released from hospital on Saturday, the same source said, and talks got under way the next day to find a third date for the title fight.
Friday Fights 46 already features an interim atomweight kickboxing title fight between veteran Anissa Meksen and rising Thai star Phetjeeja “The Queen” Ormeekhun.
The card will be the fourth quarterly tentpole edition of ONE’s Friday night broadcast at Lumpinee, which has consistently garnered big ratings on Channel 7 in Thailand.
September’s tentpole card, headline by Superlek Kiatmookao’s victory over Rodtang Jitmuangnon, produced “the highest Muay Thai viewership in history”, according to ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
To cap the promotion’s first year at the famed venue, ONE plans on ending 2023 with “the biggest card of the year for ONE Friday Fights”, a source said, with several more high-profile matchups expected to be announced.
Tawanchai and Superbon could end up closing the show, with martial arts promotion ONE surely hoping it is third time lucky after already rebooking the fight once before.
The pair were first set to main event last weekend’s Fight Night 16 card but former ONE featherweight kickboxing champ Superbon withdrew in late September after suffering a 3.54cm tear in his calf muscle.
The 34-year-old Thai was at Lumpinee Stadium on Saturday morning to promote the fight against Tawanchai, with a face off in the ring planned, and he was unaware of his compatriot’s health issue.