Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke still on the hunt to regain title
Former ONE Strawweight World Champion Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke, better known as “Kru Rong”, says he is still on the hunt to regain his title, and wants to erase the sting of the most painful day of his life in losing to eventual champion Yoshitaka Naito over a year ago.
Winning his most recent bout, a first-round knockout of Indonesian foe Adrian Matheis earlier this year in Singapore, Dejdamrong says the victory is the first step towards regaining the top spot in a deep ONE Championship strawweight division.
“In combat, victory and defeat is part of the game. It comes with the territory,” he explains. “What makes me push hard is my warrior spirit. I never let any obstacles get in my way, both mentally and physically. I hate to lose, but even defeat serves as motivation for me to improve my skills and come back strong.”
The former multiple-time Lumpinee stadium champion and Muay Thai legend transitioned to mixed martial arts in 2014, winning the inaugural ONE Strawweight World Championship in 2015 with a unanimous decision over the Philippines’ Roy Doliguez. He successfully defended the belt against Yago Bryan months later, before succumbing to Naito.
“As ONE world champion, I was very proud to represent my country on the international stage of the sport,” said Dejdamrong. “I wanted to show fans that Thai warriors are world-class competitors. I wanted to inspire the Thai people that they too can achieve what I did through hard work.”
Although he is incredibly skilled in the striking department with his experience and extensive background in Thai boxing, Dejdamrong is constantly at work improving his grappling skills, which is a huge component in the sport of mixed martial arts.
Training with some of the world’s top-level grapplers, Dejdamrong hopes to improve his grappling, so that by the time he steps back into the cage with the champion, he will be better prepared to handle the mat.
Nowadays, Dejdamrong spends his time honing his skills at Evolve MMA in Singapore, where he is a respected Muay Thai instructor, and a member of the prestigious Evolve Fight Team. It’s a long way from where he built his legacy, but Dejdamrong continues to shoot for the stars and feels his second shot at a world title is not very far away.
“I feel very good and I am training very hard for my next fight,” said Dejdamrong. “I know I have to continue winning if I want to achieve my goal of getting the belt back. I feel prepared, I feel confident. I will do everything I can to win the title again.”
It’s a long and bumpy road back to the top. At 38-years of age, Dejdamrong’s window of opportunity gets smaller as he progresses each day. But the Thai warrior isn’t fazed by time, and feels his shot at ONE Championship gold will come soon enough.
Dejdamrong (7-2) returns to the ONE Championship cage at ONE: QUEST FOR GREATNESS at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He faces the Philippines’ Robin Catalan (6-2) on the supporting card in a three-round strawweight contest.
Headlining the event is undefeated ONE Featherweight World Champion Marat “Cobra” Gafurov (15-0) of Russia, who defends his title against top contender Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen (8-1) of Australia in a highly-anticipated rematch.
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