Third time's a charm according to Ilias Ennahachi

ONE FLYWEIGHT Kickboxing World Champion Ilias “Tweety” Ennahachi meets an old foe in his first World Title defence.

He faces China’s Wang “Metal Storm” Wenfeng at ONE: AGE OF DRAGONS this Saturday, 16 November.

The clash inside Beijing’s Cadillac Arena will be their third meeting. Both warriors hold one win each in their last meetings, and on paper, this clash ticks every box of a classic striking duel.

“This will be my third time fighting him. I won the first time. (I believe I won) the second time as well,” the 23-year-old World Champion said.

“The third time is where I will show that I am just much better than he is. Everyone knows, everyone saw. I’m not going to hold back this time.”

Ennahachi’s last career defeat came to Wang in November 2017. Since then, the Dutch-Moroccan striking sensation has been on a roll, winning five of his last matches by knockout.

“After the fight against (Wang), I became much more confident and trained much harder,” he said.

“I really have to put every round to my name and go for it one hundred percent. Whether it is a championship or a single fight, I have to give it my all in every round.”

The most impressive of those victories came in enemy territory in August 2019. The SB Gym athlete outclassed “The Baby Shark” Petchdam Petchyindee Academy, dropping him with a salvo of punches on the way to a stunning third-round knockout in Bangkok, Thailand.

Once again, he finds himself competing against a hometown hero. However, the Utrecht native had zero concerns on whether the setting could play as an advantage to his opposite number.

“I have fought in China before, and I am happy to fight in China again,” he said.

“The crowd there, the people there are fight-lovers. I hope to entertain the crowd and the viewers just like I did the last time in Bangkok.”

“Tweety” refused to reveal what his plans are to defeat the Chinese martial artist, but the one thing he guarantees is fireworks when they meet in a long-awaited rubber match.

“Wang, on 16 November, we’ll fight each other for the third time,” Ennahachi said. “But this time, you’ll see a different Ilias.”

“I want to show the people a better match than my latest match against Petchdam and stay as champion, for sure.”