This Friday, Hex flyweight champion Lisa Kyriacou will make her ONE championship promotional debut in the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand for ONE’s Friday Fights 26.
While this will be her first fight for ONE, Kyriacou is no stranger to fighting in Thailand, or even fighting in Lumpinee stadium, as she fought in Lumpinee last year, picking up a split decision win over Priya Sharma. Her first time fighting internationally, Kyriacou encountered some speedbumps in her preparation in Thailand, including being unable to use saunas or locate a scale to ensure she was on weight. This time around, the Aussie says she’s much better prepared for being in a foreign country.
‘I am overly prepared this time. I brought scales with me. I brought everything with me you could possibly imagine. I’m super organized this time.’ Kyriacou said.
Kyriacou is set to fight Nat “Wondergirl” Jaroonska – an accomplished Muay Thai athlete turned MMA fighter. When Kyriacou’s team were offered the fight with Jaroonska, the prospect of fighting such a well known name was an exciting opportunity that they couldn’t pass up.
‘They just hit me up, and my managers and my coach and said they had a good fight opportunity for me. So, we looked at the opponent, obviously Nat’s got quite a big name so that’s what I wanted. I want to fight someone with a big name, I think that’s the way to go. We looked into it, we thought it was a good fight, a good opportunity, a good everything really. So, we took it and I’m really excited about it.’ Said Kyriacou.
While Jaroonska’s striking ability is well established, Kyriacou is not ruling out anything heading into this bout, and says she’s prepared for both striking and grappling exchanges.
‘Obviously her Muay Thai is absolutely spot on, I wouldn’t want to have a Muay Thai fight with her let’s say that…She’s been training for a while now, she’s a blue belt I believe as well, she comes from a gym. As I do with all my opponents, I expect them to be killers in there…I’m going to be prepared for everything.’
‘I know what she’s good at but I know what I’m good at and what I need to get better at, so we’ve been working everything. From my striking to my ground game to my takedowns to everything. She could try to take me down in there you never know, so I’m prepared for everything.’
Although Kyriacou has respect for her opponents’ ability, she feels the training she has done in the lead up to this fight will be too much for the Thai fighter to overcome.
‘The training back in Collingwood. Training so much for this. preparing every situation, and obviously it’s in a ring as well. I’ve been training my whole fight camp in a ring. I’m happy to strike as well, its MMA, it’s very different. Different style, different sport, different everything.’
This will be Kyriacou’s second time fighting MMA in a ring, her first being her previous fight in Thailand. While she emerged from that fight victorious, the flyweight said her performance didn’t sit right with her, and she was looking to showcase her skills in a ring better.
‘At the start I was like “oh if it’s in a ring I don’t know if I’m too keen.” I wasn’t too happy with my [Fairtex Fight Promotions] performance…So I’ve been thinking and training in the ring and I think this actually could work in my advantage. There’s a lot of things that I can actually see the benefits that a ring could bring. I do obviously like to grind on the cage a lot, but I feel there’s more openings in the ring. So I’ve taken a different mindset to that. I’m letting go of that bad experience and I’m looking in a new way and I’m going to get the positives out of that.’ Kyriacou said.
The opportunity to fight on a global stage on ONE is not lost on Kyriacou, with the goal of fighting under the bright lights being something the Australian said had been on her list for a while.
‘I’m excited. I feel good about it. I feel it’s where I should be. I’m ready for the bigger shows up this way…I’ve had so many fights and I’m just ready for the big stage and I love it. I love all the hype and everything behind it and I like being on a big stage. I haven’t been on a bigger stage like this, but I just know that I’m that sort of person that would love it.’
While not completely ruling out the Australian scene, Kyriacou said she feels the international circuit will be her new home for the foreseeable future.
‘Now I’ve had this ONE chance I don’t see me fighting on the local scene, but I could be wrong, but we’ll see what happens. After this I still do have very, very big plans, so I’m just going to take this one fight at a time. I plan to keep it now, probably, international.’
‘I’m going to take this fight, I’m going to get the win, and then I’m going to see what happens in the future. I have my plans. One thing at a time.’
After her fight, Kyriacou is ready to head back home to Melbourne to reconnect to her friends and family.
‘I’m going to go straight back home. Two weeks in Thailand is heaps for me to be honest. I know a lot of people could spend a long time here but two weeks for me in plenty. I get pretty keen to go back to see my family, have dinner with everyone. My partner said if I win, which I will, he’s going to take me out for a nice dinner.’
