Jonathan Di Bella reflects on ONE World Title win over Peimian: ‘I broke him mentally’

Kuala Lumpur, October 25: Jonathan Di Bella has said he broke China's Zhang Peimian 'mentally' after the ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Title triumph at ONE 162: Peimian vs. Di Bella on Friday (October 21).

The son of multiple-time Kickboxing Champion Angelo Di Bella added the ONE belt to his family's collection with a unanimous decision win in the main event of ONE 162 during the past weekend's double header at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"When the fight started, I said, 'No, he's not beating me at all. There's no way he's beating me.' I already beat him mentally before going into the fight," Di Bella said.

"All week, last week, the week before, and leading up to the fight, he was saying he was going to knock me out, that I was not going to last three rounds. But guess what? He went down, and I broke him mentally."

Seemingly unphased by the prospect of travelling outside of North America for the first time in his fighting career, Di Bella embraced his perceived underdog status.

The Canadian-Italian star largely played a straight bat when confronted with verbal barbs from the confident Peimian, choosing to defer to the fight itself.

"Coming here in his territory, and in Asia, everybody had it against me. I believe it was 75 to 25 percent for him against all odds. I told you I was going to give you a war, I told you I was going to do my talking in the Circle, and I did," he said.

The 26-year-old was true to his word, matching his 19-year-old foe's frantic pace from the outset. The fight was closely contested throughout the five rounds until a head kick in the fifth canto from Di Bella put Peimian on the canvas.

The knockdown, Di Bella feels, was enough to secure a clear decision win and send him on his way to finishing the fight.

"I wasn't nervous (when the decision was read) because I finished well. I finished with a [knockdown], and if it was a few more seconds, like a minute more, not even, I would have for sure finished him," he said.

Growing up in a martial arts family, the Team Di Bella representative had one goal in mind, and that was to be a World Champion. Friday night's win, he says, was true to the script he had written long ago.

"I pictured this fight even when I was a little kid. I pictured myself like Rocky in Rocky IV against Drago. And this is a perfect matchup because everybody was against me. He was the monster of the division, and I just took him out," he said.

Di Bella plans on being an active champion, but only after a well-earned break.

"Right now, I need a month off because I have trained really hard. I had a really hard training camp, so I need maybe a month off. But after this, [in] January or February, I'm ready - 100 percent," he said.

ONE's strawweight divisions are littered with big-name opportunities across multiple disciplines. Di Bella could potentially face stars such as ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua Pacio or ONE Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Joseph Lasiri in future.

For the new ONE kickboxing king, however, his choice of future opponent is simple. "Anybody that wants to come fight me. I'm here," he said. "Good night."

Source: Media Release