Sam-A Gaiyanghadao Chases History Against Aliff Sor Dechapan At The Inner Circle 23
Sam-A Gaiyanghadao was fighting for Muay Thai World Titles before his upcoming opponent was even born. On Friday, July 24, the gap between those two eras collides head-on.
ONE Championship has revealed the full card for The Inner Circle 23, streaming live for subscribers at live.onefc.com from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. In the main event, the 42-year-old Sam-A races for the ONE Interim Strawweight Muay Thai World Title against Aliff Sor Dechapan across five rounds.
Sam-A already holds 13 Muay Thai and kickboxing World Titles, a resume that includes ONE’s first-ever Muay Thai bout and its inaugural flyweight crown. He came out of retirement to prove he still belongs among the elite, and his last three ONE outings have made that case emphatically.
He survived knockdowns against Thway Lin Htet, outlasted Jaosuayai Mor Krungthepthonburi in a decision war, and stopped Elmehdi El Jamari with a second-round head kick.
Standing across from him is the 22-year-old Aliff, who was not even born the first time Sam-A fought for a Lumpinee Stadium Muay Thai World Title in 1999. The Malaysian, raised in Kota Bharu and now based at Sor Dechapan in Bangkok, arrives on a five-fight winning streak.
That run includes a bonus-winning body punch knockout of Zakaria El Jamari, a first-round TKO of Shamil Adukhov, and a commanding decision over Ramadan Ondash that featured a flying scissor knee knockdown. Aliff is chasing history of his own as the first Malaysian ONE Muay Thai World Champion.
The co-main event pits seven-time Muay Thai World Champion Panpayak Jitmuangnon against Mexico’s Anuar Cisneros in bantamweight kickboxing. Panpayak is now 3-0 under the bigger gloves and carries a career mark of 251 wins from 298 professional bouts into the assignment.
Cisneros, 25, is 2-0 in ONE and brings a sharp jab and aerial finishing instincts that have made him a dangerous dark horse at bantamweight.
The undercard adds three more bouts spanning Muay Thai and kickboxing: Michel Dirlenbach faces Mahan Fotouhi at strawweight, Ryujin Nasukawa meets Thongpoon PK Saenchai in a strawweight kickboxing clash, and Yoshida Kosei battles Liu Junchao at flyweight kickboxing.
Whatever happens under the Lumpinee lights on July 24, the strawweight Muay Thai division will look different by the final bell.
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