BANGKOK — Thousands of spectators filled Lumpinee Stadium this past Friday to witness the ONE Friday Fights debut of Lamnamoonlek Tded99. But for the third time in just a few months, the Muay Thai world watched another respectable fighter hit a roadblock in the weekly series.
Lamnamoonlek entered ONE Championship having won 14 of his last 16 fights. He carried with him into the promotion many accolades as well, including being named the 2023 Rajadamnern Stadium Fighter of the Year. Needless to say, fans expected him to breeze through Kongsuk Fairtex in the main event of ONE Friday Fights 97 on February 14. But that just wasn’t the case.
Kongsuk — a two-time Lumpinee Stadium champion — proved to be a formidable force for Lamnamoonlek, knocking him down in the second round with a right punch. Kongsuk’s fist whipped Lamnamoonlek’s head around as his body followed and crashed into the canvas. The man from Tded99 jumped to his feet and rallied back for the remainder of the fight. Even then, two of the three ringside judges awarded the split decision to Kongsuk.
It’s been a pattern lately, highly touted fighters coming into ONE Friday Fights expecting to catapult themselves to a contract with ONE Championship — one of the weekly show’s consistent storylines — only to experience the anguish of being defeated on debut.
That same night, Myanmar’s Vero faced a similar fury. She signed with ONE Championship last month and fans expected her to run through the ranks. But Vero’s first opponent, Francisca Vera, turned their atomweight duel into an absolute dogfight, mauling Vero from within the clinch. The fight was so dramatic that although Vera got the nod, both women got the 350,000 Thai Baht bonus.
And if we dig through the archives of ONE Friday Fights, we’ll find multiple-time Muay Thai stadium champion Panpayak Jitmuangnon up against the same fate. He returned to the weekly series opposite Egor Bikrev in December 2024. Not many thought the Russian would have the skills to defeat a fighter of Panpayak’s caliber. But Bikrev ripped through the Thai in the second round to score the walk-off, knockout win.
We can keep going back if we have to, all the way to 2023. There, Kongthailand Kiatnavy made his ONE Friday Fights debut. He looked like a world beater heading into his fight against Victor Teixeira. But the Lumpinee Stadium champion suffered a second-round knockout loss.
In other words, there is no easy entry into ONE Friday Fights — unless, of course, you sitting in the stands.