Knowles challenges two-sport ONE titleholder Roman Kryklia for the ONE Heavyweight Muay Thai World Championship in the main event on the Saturday, April 5 at Thailand’s Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok.
The six-foot slugger has often been seen in ONE bantamweight kickboxing world champion Jonathan Haggerty’s corner, donning his unmissable Charles Bronson-esque moustache and signature pink bowler hat.
He held the bucket when Haggerty shocked the world by knocking out Nong-O Hama to claim the bantamweight Muay Thai crown in April 2023, and he’s out to cause a similar ripple this weekend.
“I can’t wait for it. It’s a different experience when you’re in the back, cornering the best fighters in the world. It’s tense. Because you’re on the outside, you can sometimes be too nervous, as you can only control so much,” Knowles said.
“But getting to be the one inside those ropes now, instead of trailing with the bucket, it’s going to be special for me. I’ve played the long game to get here. I’ve been at this now for 20 years. So to win the biggest prize in our industry at this point, it doesn’t get any sweeter.”
Knowles may be gunning for gold at ONE Fight Night 30, but it’s also his promotional debut.
It’s a big ask for a fighter to step up in such a significant way the first time out, but this is the chance of a lifetime that the former WBC heavyweight Muay Thai champion has always dreamed of.
With that in mind, he plans to etch his name into history by swiping the gold away from the two-sport ONE world champion Kryklia, who’s yet to taste defeat in ONE.
“I’m turning up in new territory, and what better way to make yourself known than to go after the biggest guy in the yard?” he said.
“All the lights will be on me. All the eyes, too. It’s the main event. I’m here to take his crown.”
