‘The Chef’ Luke Lessei came to Lumpinee Stadium with a recipe for success, and he executed it to perfection.
The 30-year-old Attachment Fighting representative from Iowa, USA, delivered the most composed performance of his ONE Championship career in the main event of ONE Fight Night 45 on Friday, July 17.
Standing across from him was Algerian striker Mohamed ‘The Eagle’ Younes Rabah, a dangerous featherweight Muay Thai contender with the tools to trouble anyone in the division.
The opening round was a measured, tactical exchange. Lessei used teeps to control the range and caught body kicks to set up his own low kick counters.
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Rabah shifted the momentum midway through with a sharp high kick that opened the door for punishing body hooks, rattling Lessei’s ribs and edging the round on most cards.
Lessei came out sharper in round two. He opened with a body kick to recapture Rabah’s attention and began timing him on the way in. The clinch exchanges were dead even, but on separation, Lessei landed a clean punch that put him in control.
He unloaded combinations in bunches from there, visibly shaking Rabah and pulling ahead convincingly.
The body kicks kept coming in the third, and a clean left hand stunned ‘The Eagle’ midway through the round.
Rabah dug deep and pressed forward to make a war in the final minutes, and both men traded hard until the bell.
Official result: Luke Lessei defeats Mohamed Younes Rabah via unanimous decision
The win moved Lessei’s record to 9-3 and marked a significant bounce-back from his loss to ONE interim featherweight Muay Thai world champion Nico ‘King of the North’ Carrillo last November.
Back in the win column with his most complete showing yet, ‘The Chef’ has put the featherweight Muay Thai division on notice.
If he keeps this up, a world title run no longer looks like a distant ambition.
The full replay of ONE Fight Night 45 is available on demand for Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim
