Combat Press recently learned from sources inside ONE Championship that former Muay Thai champions “Smokin'” Jo Nattawut and Niclas Larsen have been booked for a three-round featherweight Muay Thai battle at ONE Fight Night 17, which takes place Friday, Dec. 8, at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Both men are currently on three-fight losing streaks inside the ONE Circle, and both men badly need a win to stay relevant in the promotion.
Nattawut, a former Lion Fight and World Muaythai Council titleholder, joined ONE Championship in Apr. 2018 after becoming a two-division Lion Fight champion in the super welterweight and middleweight classes. He defended the super welterweight title five times. In his first three-and-a-half years under the ONE banner, Nattawut went 5-2 before dropping his last three fights. However, two of those losses were to current ONE striking champions Chingiz Allazov and Tawanchai PK.Saenchai, and the third was to Jamal Yusupov, who contested Tawanchai’s Muay Thai title.
Denmark’s Larsen is a former World Boxing Council, International Muaythai Council and World Kickboxing Union champion. He also fought six times in GLORY Kickboxing, where he amassed a record of 3-3. Larsen’s only three ONE appearances all ended in losses to Tawanchai, Jimmy Vienot and Eddie Abasolo. Anxiously awaiting his first win under the ONE banner, he faces a tough test in Thailand’s Nattawut.
Nattawut vs. Larsen will take place on a card headlined by the aforementioned ONE featherweight Muay Thai champ Tawanchai, who will be taking on former ONE featherweight kickboxing titleholder Superbon Singha Mawynn in a much-anticipated Muay Thai title showdown.
ONE Fight Night 17: Tawanchai vs. Superbon will air live and free to Amazon Prime subscribers on Prime Video on Friday, Dec. 8 starting at 8 p.m. ET.