Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke is set to become the first Thai fighter to ever challenge for a world title in mixed martial arts (MMA) when he fights for the ONE Championship 115-pound belt at the Singapore Indoor Stadium next month.
The 37-year-old won Lumpinee titles in both the 105-pound and 108-pound divisions and was also a champion at Siam Omnoi Stadium, where the televised fights on a Saturday lunchtime take place, but he retired from Muay Thai to become an instructor at Evolve MMA in Singapore.
After moving to Singapore, Dejdamrong soon took an interest in the other martial arts classes which were taking place and started training himself. In 2014 he made his professional debut and went on to win four fights out of four competing for Asia’s biggest MMA organization, ONE Championship.
His learning curve has been exceptionally steep and those four wins have earned Dejdamrong a shot at the organization’s 115-pound title. At May 22’s ONE: Warrior’s Quest he will fight Filipino boxing veteran Roy Doliguez, and the winner will be able to call themselves a world champion in MMA.
This week Dejdamrong returned to the Lookbanyai camp in Bangkok, where he lived and trained during his Muay Thai career, with a camera crew from Singapore accompanying him. It is a tiny gym in Sutthisan, situated right next to one of the city’s stagnant canals, and it seldom gets much attention from the international media.
Lookbanyai is an unlikely launch pad for Thailand’s first ever MMA world champion, but it was though hours of training in the intense heat here nearly two decades ago that Dejdamrong forged the skills which would bring him so much success in his Muay Thai career.
He is now hoping to add a title in a totally different discipline of combat sport, but Dejdamrong will face his toughest opponent since embarking upon his second fighting career, as Doliguez is a former boxing world title challenger with a 6-1 MMA record.
MMA is starting to gain traction in Thailand through small amateur events held at Thammasat University, as more and more young Bangkokians become interested in what is still a relatively new sport.
The country is already known worldwide for its training camps with thousands of tourists flocking to Phuket to train every year, but if a fighter from Thailand could win a world title it would really establish Thailand on the MMA map.
Dejdamrong will have the opportunity to do just that May 22 if he could capture the ONE Championship title at the age of 37. After less than two years of MMA training it would be a truly remarkable achievement.
