Dayakaev And Superlek To Settle Score In Highly Anticipated Muay Thai Rematch

ONE Championship has announced the rematch that the martial arts world has been demanding. Abdulla Dayakaev and Superlek will run it back at The Inner Circle on Friday, August 7, live from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The two warriors first shared the ring at The Inner Circle earlier this month in a bantamweight Muay Thai contest that delivered everything fans had hoped for. What nobody anticipated, however, was the controversy that followed the final bell.

Dayakaev set the tone early, dropping the legendary Thai star with a thunderous right hand that sent Superlek into an eight-count in the opening round.

The knockdown rattled the reigning ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Champion to his core, but the former ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Champion showed his class by surviving the storm and clawing his way back into the contest.

From the second round onwards, Superlek shifted gears entirely. He began landing thudding elbows and right kicks with growing regularity while targeting his opponent with punishing knees in the clinch. By the third round, the Thai veteran was a man on a mission, attacking Dayakaev's midsection and ribcage with relentless clinch knees.

The late pressure was fierce, but the first-round knockdown proved too costly to overcome. Two of the three judges handed Dayakaev the split-decision victory, the biggest win of his professional career, and a result that sent Superlek back to the winning column in emphatic fashion.

The moment the verdict was read, debate erupted across the martial arts community. Fans and critics lined up to argue that Superlek's dominant second and third rounds had done enough to earn him the nod. The judges saw it differently, and now the only way to settle the argument is to do it all over again.