Kwon Won Il had a superstar-esque showing at ONE Fight Night 18. The South Korean picked up a TKO victory that ignited the crowd but then followed it up with an even more electric post-match interview. It was a night that could have pushed him to the cat bird’s seat in ONE Championship’s bantamweight division.
There is no other place he would like to be. The rising contender is almost salivating at the prospect of getting another shot at ONE Bantamweight MMA World Champion Fabricio Andrade. Following his win, he spoke about how that rematch is the only thing at the forefront of his mind.
“My next plan is on only one thing. Give me the title shot. I want Fabricio. I’m going to kill him. That’s my plan,” Kwon told ONE.
His win over Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg went a long way to earning him that shot. That is not merely because it was a win. And not even because it was a stoppage by TKO.
Kwon got to show off his well-rounded abilities. The 28-year-old got to flash his crisp striking on the feet, but more importantly for him, he got to silence some of his critics. When grappling became part of the match, he showed he could defend well and even take control of the match.
“No, I just wanted to talk. Well, to be honest, yes. And a lot of people online have been commenting that my grappling skill is not as as advanced so I tried to show them at least once that I do have this skill,” Kwon said.
By showing his development as a complete mixed martial artist, Kwon feels the potential rematch with Andrade has even more reason to be huge. “Pretty Boy” knows that the stylistic and personality clash makes for an entertaining title tilt. For those reasons, he sees a big return when he gets his chance to even the score against his Brazilian rival.
“So the fight that I [might] have with Andrade, it will be much more entertaining and I highly believe that the ticket sales will be higher. And it will even be able to be sold in Korea as well,” the South Korean bantamweight stated.
