Four Years Later Jonathan Di Bella Answers Zhang Peimian One More Time
Four years is a long time to wait for a rematch. Jonathan Di Bella made it worth it.
The Canadian-Italian defended his ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Title against Zhang Peimian in the main event of The Inner Circle 22, a five-round classic held Friday, July 17, inside Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The card streamed exclusively for The Inner Circle subscribers at live.onefc.com.
Di Bella and the Shengli Fight Club and Tiger Muay Thai star first collided nearly four years earlier for the vacant title, and their rematch opened at the same blistering pace.
The Team Di Bella Kickboxing representative and “Fighting Rooster” traded crisp one-two combinations from the opening bell, both making clear they had no intention of feeling the other out first.
The pace held through round two. Di Bella leaned on his trademark hand combinations, while “Fighting Rooster” answered with sharp counters and shots to the body.
Round three raised the stakes further. Both fighters mixed in low kicks between exchanges, and the 29-year-old Di Bella even threw a knee, only for Zhang to land a powerful right hook that briefly stalled the champion’s momentum.
The 22-year-old challenger diversified his attack in round four, landing a crescent kick to the midsection that visibly slowed Di Bella. The champion stayed composed, tapping into his world-class fight IQ to find gaps in Zhang’s defense with clean boxing combinations.
Di Bella came home strong in the fifth round, landing clean combinations while Zhang kept firing back through the frantic closing exchanges. A late left hook counter from the champion even knocked Zhang’s mouthguard loose with the finish line in sight.
When the final bell sounded after 15 minutes of back-and-forth action, Di Bella’s hand was raised once more, the ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Title still around his waist. The unanimous decision improved the champion to 16-1 overall and pushed his head-to-head record against Zhang to 2-0, closing another chapter in one of ONE Championship’s most enduring strawweight kickboxing rivalries.
Nearly four years on from their first war, neither man had lost a step, and Bangkok got a sequel every bit as fierce as the original.
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