"I Didn't Regret It": Olivia Bahsous Skipped Prom to Make ONE Championship Debut and Earned an 89-Second Victory

Canadian striker Olivia Bahsous chose her ONE Friday Fights debut over attending prom, making the call at 16. The teenager said the fight had already been confirmed when she was planning for the school event, which she had accepted a month earlier.

Bahsous made a strong promotional impact in June this year when she beat Thai star Phontip in just 89 seconds. The quick win marked her arrival on the global stage and added weight to her choice to miss prom for ONE Championship.

She said the decision came after she had already agreed to attend prom and started looking for dresses. "I got invited to prom maybe a month before, and I didn't know if my fight was confirmed yet. So I said, 'Yeah, I'll go, of course.' I was so excited, looking for dresses and everything," Bahsous said.

"But then, Mr. Chatri [Sityodtong] told me that I'd be fighting, and I was even happier. I didn't regret my decision to fight on the same day as prom. I did miss it, but I'm not very sad about it. I'll go again." Her prom date, she said, supported her choice.

"He took it smoothly. He was just proud of me, and it's fine. But yeah, the hardest thing to balance is probably my social life outside of social media. Because I'm homeschooled, I don't have many friends," Bahsous said. She described the balance as one of the main parts of her teenage life.