ONE Championship: Chatri says Anissa Meksen’s ‘emotional outbursts’ are ‘water under the bridge’ after apology
- ONE Championship CEO praises Meksen as ‘greatest kickboxer on the planet’ with this year’s turmoil now behind them
- Chatri Sityodtong happy to ‘move forward’ as French-Algerian star gets set for interim atomweight title fight next month
ONE Championship boss Chatri Sityodtong has said the turmoil surrounding Anissa Meksen and his martial arts promotion is now “water under the bridge”.
The French-Algerian kickboxing star is set to fight for the interim atomweight title against Thailand’s Phetjeeja Ormeekhun on December 22 in Bangkok.
But the 35-year-old appeared to be close to leaving ONE this year after no-showing the weigh-ins for a scheduled mixed rules fight against Stamp Fairtex in January.
“I’ve never had an issue with Anissa, ever. I’ve always had a good relationship with her. I think she had an emotional outburst against me, but she gave me a private apology and I accepted and we move forward,” Chatri told the Post.
A planned interim atomweight kickboxing title fight with Stamp fell through in the aftermath of January’s incident, with the Thai upset by her opponent’s withdrawal.
She said ONE “made a huge mistake in the contract and communication” for her mixed rules fight with Stamp, adding: “If I wanted to make a career in a circus, I would’ve done so a while ago.”
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Meksen was then booked for an MMA fight with regional French promotion ARES in May but was later pulled from the event, with ONE officials telling the Post she was still under an “exclusive contract”.
Things finally appear to have been smoothed over, with Chatri now heaping praise on her ahead of her return.
“She is honestly the greatest kickboxer on the planet,” he added. “She is arguably the ‘GOAT’ [greatest of all time] in kickboxing but she does Muay Thai as well at the highest level in the world.
“I have appreciation for Anissa’s skill set, her life story, her achievements. But at the time when she was making all these emotional outbursts and false accusations, I didn’t reply publicly.
“Of course I was disappointed. She and her team had some contract issues with ONE but she apologised. It’s water under the bridge. We move on. These things happen.
“I look forward to her fight next month. I know she’s training hard. Her biggest dream in life is to win a world title in ONE.”
Meksen debuted in ONE with a second-round finish of Spain’s Cristina Morales in September 2021.
She went on to ease to dominant unanimous decision wins over Marie Ruumet and Dangkongfah Banchamek in 2022, but her calls for a title shot against atomweight champion Janet Todd fell on deaf ears.
“Here we go,” Meksen wrote in a Facebook post this month after the title fight against Phetjeeja for ONE Friday Fights 46 was announced.
“Three years I’ve been waiting for my chance, three years. Train running and it ain’t stopping. Let’s go.”
