Perth’s Danial Williams will once again look to become the first Australian to claim a ONE kickboxing world title at ONE Fight Night 15.
“Mini T” will challenge ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion Jonathan Di Bella at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on October 7.
Williams has had an eventful run with ONE Championship since signing with the promotion back in 2021. The 30-year-old faced Thai megastar Rodtang Jitmuangnon in his short-notice debut and lost no fans as he stood toe-to-toe with the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion before suffering a late knockdown in a unanimous decision defeat.
The multi-discipline fighter then embarked on a 3-1 run under MMA rules, positioning himself inside the top five in the promotional rankings.
Most recently, “Mini T” stepped in on short notice once again to face ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 at ONE Fight Night 8 in March, suffering a brutal third-round knockout. Williams was originally scheduled to face Rui Botelho in a strawweight Muay Thai contest at the event, before stepping up to the main event ironically replacing the injured Rodtang.
The Kao Sok Muay Thai representative has made no secret of his desire to become the first athlete to claim ONE World Titles across three different disciplines – Muay Thai, MMA and kickboxing.
The first title of the three on his radar will be that of Di Bella.
The Canadian Italian star is a second generation kickboxing world champion after his father – Angelo Di Bella – claimed multiple titles in his career.
The younger Di Bella made his promotional debut at ONE 162 in October, where he claimed the inaugural strawweight kickboxing strap in an epic tussle with Chinese prodigy Zhang Peimian.
A late, head-kick knockdown likely secured the unanimous decision win for the 27-year-old after a seesawing five rounds.
The Di Bella-Williams showdown joins a card already topped with two world title fights as Tawanchai PK Saenchai puts his ONE Featherweight World Title on the line against former featherweight kickboxing titlist Superbon Singha Mawynn, while newly minted bantamweight Muay Thai champ Jonathan Haggerty battles bantamweight MMA king Fabricio “Wonder Boy” Andrade for the vacant kickboxing belt.
The full ONE Fight Night 15 fight card is still to be announced.
ONE Fight Night 15 announced bouts
- ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Title: Tawanchai PK Saenchai (c) vs. Superbon Singha Mawynn
- Vacant ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Title: Jonathan Haggerty vs. Fabricio Andrade
- ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Title: Jonathan Di Bella (c) vs. Danial Williams
- Flyweight MMA: Danny Kingad vs. Hu Yong
- Lightweight MMA: Timofey Nastyukhin vs. Zhang Lipeng
