Unbeaten Czaban Predicts a Second-Round Finish of Souza

Magdalena Czaban is 5-0 and has already named the round in which she expects to beat Vick Souza. The Pole says it ends in round two, and she declines to say how.

A bonus and a promise

"I will say it will end in the second round, but I will not say how!"

The bout is on ONE Fight Night 49, which airs from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok on Friday, November 6. There is a US$50,000 performance bonus on the line, and Czaban wants a bigger statement than her last result gave her. Winning on the scorecards is not how she likes to finish a fight.

That last result was her promotion debut, and it was also the first time one of her pro fights went the distance. She felt she still had more to give.

An opponent who knows the promotion

Czaban, 27, comes from Krakow and is nicknamed "The Powerpuff Girl". Souza is the one with the ONE mileage. She has four wins in the promotion, and Czaban reckons the Brazilian has seven fights there.

In July at ONE Fight Night 45, Souza took a unanimous decision over Ayaka Miura, a former challenger for the ONE strawweight MMA title. Earlier, at ONE 167, she submitted Itsuki Hirata with a guillotine in 91 seconds.

Czaban sees the value in that background. In her view Souza can steer a fight so the judges favor her, so she has to do the same. She adds that they will see who does it better.

What got Czaban to the global stage

Before ONE, Czaban was a decorated amateur. On the regional circuit she then finished four of four opponents.

In August at ONE Fight Night 46 she met Natalie Salcedo, a 34-year-old American who mixes Muay Thai with jiu-jitsu. Czaban bloodied Salcedo's nose in the opening minutes, then took the fight to the mat in round two and took a unanimous decision, landing knees and ground-and-pound.

She came away more confident. By her account she was not nervous, enjoyed fighting in a ring, and felt calmer there.

Why the zero matters less to her

ONE's write-up says she is already a complete fighter: she can work opponents over on the feet or wear them down on the ground and change between the two smoothly.

Yet Czaban says staying undefeated is not really important. Showing good MMA for the audience and the organization comes first. She also thinks wins will bring title shots, though not necessarily next year.

A world title would matter at home too. Poland has no ONE champion, she notes, and she would be happy if that changed.

Our View

Czaban has attached a specific round to her win, and she has a bonus giving her reason to chase a finish. The opponent has a quick submission on her own résumé, so a risky plan could be punished. Friday's result will show whether a fighter with one ONE appearance can impose a timetable on one with four wins there.

Source: ONE Championship