ONE Championship: Smilla Sundell to make second defence of her strawweight Muay Thai title against Natalia Diachkova
- The Swedish teenager will face the 29-year-old Russian at ONE Fight Night 22 in Bangkok on May 4
- Sundell, the youngest-ever ONE Championship title winner, faces an opponent who has won her past four fights
Smilla Sundell, the youngest title holder in ONE Championship history, will defend her belt for the second time when she faces Natalia Diachkova at ONE Fight Night 22 in Bangkok next month.
The headlining strawweight Muay Thai title fight, which takes place on Saturday morning local time on May 4, will be broadcast live to North America.
The Swedish Sundell, 19, beat Jackie Buntan in 2022 to become the inaugural strawweight Muay Thai champion. She made the first defence of the belt last September, when she stopped Brazilian Allycia Rodrigues in Singapore.
Diachkova burst onto the scene with four wins at the ONE Friday Fights events, with three of those victories came in the opening round. This impressive run of form was enough to earn her a shot at the belt.
The Russian will be making her debut on Prime Video, the platform streaming the bout.
Two other female fighters will be in action at Lumpinee Stadium, with Noelle Grandjean matched against Chihiro Sawada in the atomweight division.
Both are coming off victories and looking to earn a spot in the top five for the first time.
The undefeated Sawada (7-0-1) beat fifth-ranked Jihin Radzuan at ONE Fight Night 20 last month, while Grandjean (5-1) is coming off a win over Victória Souza at the same event.
ONE Fight Night 22, Bangkok, May 4
Women’s strawweight Muay Thai title fight: Smilla Sundell (Sweden) v Natalia Diachkova (Russia)
Women’s atomweight MMA: Noelle Grandjean (France/Thailand) v Chihiro Sawada (Japan)
Men’s featherweight MMA: Akbar Abdullaev (Kyrgyzstan) v Halil Amir (Turkey)
Men’s lightweight Muay Thai: Sinsamut Klinmee (Thailand) v Dmitry Menshikov (Russia)
