ONE Championship: “I overcame it”

Brazilian megastar Allycia Hellen Rodrigues survived the toughest test of her championship reign at The Inner Circle 19. In fact, the atomweight Muay Thai queen had to dig into reserves she had never been forced to touch before to keep her gold intact.

The defending ONE women’s atomweight Muay Thai world champion edged Thai warrior ‘The Queen’ Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom via split decision in their five-round world title showdown in Bangkok’s legendary Lumpinee Stadium on June 19.

She got her hand raised after a solid showing in the championship rounds — but it was the middle rounds that truly tested the Brazilian queen’s championship pedigree.

Allycia Hellen Rodrigues had started strong, only for Phetjeeja to flip the script in the third frame with a relentless body assault and a perfectly timed elbow that cut the champion. The road back required everything she had.

Speaking to ONE Championship after retaining her crown, the Phuket Fight Club athlete reflected on the moment she clawed her way back into the contest.

“For sure, she’s one of the strongest opponents of my life, but I felt good in the fight. In the beginning, I felt really great, and things were going really well. In Round 3, the fight became harder, but we came back and took the win,” Allycia Hellen Rodrigues said.

The 28-year-old continued, “The fight became harder at some point, but then I overcame it and kept clinching. Phetjeeja started running away, and that’s when the fight started going [my way.]”

Allycia Hellen Rodrigues continues to prove why she truly is the atomweight Muay Thai queen

Phetjeeja threw everything but the kitchen sink throughout their action-packed 15-minute fight in Bangkok, but Allycia Hellen Rodrigues did enough to get her hand raised.

The Brazilian’s defense may have been exposed during certain stretches of the contest, but it also allowed her to tap into her reserves to find a more creative way past Phetjeeja’s world-class defense in the championship rounds.

It was far from a clean win for the Phuket Fight Club athlete, but true world champions do anything – fight beautifully, make it a dirty fight, and tap into their vast IQ – to ensure victory favors them.

That is exactly what Rodrigues did to extend her reign as the ONE women’s atomweight Muay Thai world champion at The Inner Circle 19.

Phetjeeja will definitely work her way back into a rematch, but Rodrigues should use this fight as a blueprint to ensure she completely overwhelms the Thai if and when they do cross paths on the global stage again.