Marat Grigorian has already made an impact in 2024 with a win over Sittichai Sitsongpeenong. He will try to keep the momentum rolling on Friday, April 5, with a shot at the ONE Interim Featherweight Kickboxing World Championship at ONE Friday Fights 58.
To claim gold in ONE Championship for the first time, Grigorian will have to defeat Superbon Singha Mawynn.
“Life is a risk. This year, I’m going to risk everything. I really need and want to win. That’s all there is. The only thing on my mind is to beat him. Finish or not, it doesn’t matter how it will end. I just want to win,” Grigorian told ONE.
“My goal is to be the World Champion of ONE Championship. That’s the only goal in my mind. So it means everything to me. I will do my best to get there.”
The two talented featherweights have already met twice, once for ONE gold. In this ever-important trilogy contest, Grigorian expects a lot of what Superbon did in their last meeting, which led to a unanimous decision loss.
“The first fight was really short because it took only 29 seconds. The second fight was five rounds of fighting. I saw everything that he throws. I was just very, very slow that night, and he improved a lot. But I have also improved a lot. So every fight is different. We need to stay sharp because one mistake, and it can end very fast,” the Armenian noted.
“I think he will do the same game plan as the last time, just teeping me away and throwing some knees. I think that’s the only thing that he can do against me. I will work on distance, take my points, and that’s it.”
Grigorian has already arrived in Thailand to acclimate to the changes he will experience on fight night. After his last performance against Superbon, the Armenian wanted to ensure he was 100% ready for their latest encounter.
Being used to the change in time and making sure his body is as healthy as possible, Grigorian is peaking at the right time.
“The last fight with Superbon, I was really well prepared. But on the day itself, I didn’t recover. My body was not working. It’s not an excuse that I lost against him. I don’t like excuses. But one of the reasons was I didn’t recover well. You can see it in my fight. I was really slow. I was throwing everything like slow motion,” the featherweight said.
“So that’s why now we are here [in Thailand] for longer. To get healthy and recover. It’s helping me to get used to the time. I’m sleeping well and things like that. So I think it will be a different night.”
April 5 is the date he believes will bring him to his destiny. The ONE Interim Featherweight Kickboxing World Title hangs in the balance against one of his biggest rivals.
Grigorian is as confident as ever that everything has fallen into place to bring him gold in Bangkok.
“Everything is going good. I’m here with my team, six or seven people, including my coach, Nick Hemmers, and some of my sparring partners,” Grigorian said.
“We are just focused on me for now. There are no other people with us who are going to fight, so the focus stays on me. Every day, we are training or working on some different game plan. It’s heavy, and we’re sparring a lot of times.”
ONE Friday Fights 58 airs live on watch.onefc.com on Friday, April 5, for $24.99.