Pattaya, Thailand’s Saemapetch Fairtex made a winning start to life in ONE Super Series with a unanimous decision win over Lithuania’s Deividas Danyla in a battle of Muay Thai world champions in China.
The pair did battle in a ONE Super Series bantamweight Muay Thai contest at ONE: BATTLE FOR THE HEAVENS at the Guangzhou Tianhe Gymnasium in China on 7 July.
MTGP Welterweight World Champion Saemapetch, who went into the bout with 131 Muay Thai bouts to his name compared to Danyla’s 56, made his experience advantage pay with an excellent performance.
The Thai star landed a thumping kick to the body as he signalled his intent early in the first round.
Thailand-based Danyla, known as “The Savage Sitsongpeenong,” looked to push the pace in the first three minutes, while Saemapetch was content to let the action come to him.
All that changed in the final 30 seconds of the period as the Thai exploded forward with a huge left hand, followed by a powerful downward elbow to send Danyla crashing to the canvas.
Saemapetch turned up the power in the second round, as he ripped thumping kicks to the Lithuanian’s body and threw his shots with more vigour.
The Thai was once again battling off his back foot for long spells, but did a good job of blocking most of Danyla’s attacks.
That first-round knockdown and tough second round meant the IMC Muay Thai World Champion needed to find something special in the third and final round. The 26-year-old Lithuanian pushed forward more aggressively than ever, switching stances and looking to trade with the 23-year-old Thai.
After switching to a southpaw stance to mirror his opponent’s left-handed approach, Danyla had his best round of the bout as he stood toe-to-toe with his more experienced opponent.
Despite the high output and intensity from both men, neither could find a finish, and the bout went all the way to the judges. Saemapetch earned the unanimous verdict, with all three officials in agreement that he had done enough to take the win.
Saemapetch’s victory took his tally of career wins to 117 as the 23-year-old star introduced his skills to ONE Championship’s huge global audience in the perfect way.