Yod-IQ Wins ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Title
Yod-IQ Or Pimolsri is the new ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion after a unanimous decision over Rambolek Chor Ajalaboon at The Inner Circle 30. The 24-year-old made it 11 straight wins on Friday at Lumpinee Stadium, and he was the only man in the ring who could take the belt.
Rambolek had already lost the title on the scale. The 23-year-old Superbon fighter came in at 145.6 pounds, six-tenths over the limit, after two tries on Thursday. Yod-IQ made 144.8. The fight went on at catchweight. Under ONE rules, a Rambolek win would have left the championship vacant. A Yod-IQ win made him champion. He did the job over five rounds.
That is a strange way to become a world champion and a clean way all the same. Rambolek was stripped like Superlek Kiatmoo9 before him, the second bantamweight Muay Thai titleholder in 18 months to miss weight and watch the gold slide off the scale. Yod-IQ did not miss. He had to beat the man who took the belt from Nabil Anane in March, and he did it without needing a judge to invent a round.
Yod-IQ entered 12-1 inside ONE and 127-36 for his career. The only stain on his promotional record was Alexey Balyko. He wiped that out in December with a first-round head-kick knockout that earned a $100,000 contract and a roster spot. In May he handed previously unbeaten Kiamran Nabati a split-decision loss. The 10-fight streak became 11 in the main event.
He trains at PK Saenchai with Tawanchai, the featherweight Muay Thai champion, and he has said out loud that sharing belts with his gym brother was the dream. Friday put a world title in his hands at 24. The PK Saenchai kid who started fighting at 7 years old in Buriram is no longer chasing the door. He is the champion.
Rambolek’s path had been just as loud. He stopped Abdulla Dayakaev with a body shot, then outlasted the 6-foot-4 Anane over five rounds at The Inner Circle 7 to become champion. He went into monkhood after the win, came back on a six-fight streak, and still could not hit 145. The fight he wanted was a first defense. The fight he got was a catchweight he could not win a belt in.
Yod-IQ had called it a war before they boxed. “I am confident in my own ability. I believe I have more versatility with my punches, kicks and everything else,” he said after making weight. “I will go in and exchange punches and kicks. It will be war.”
The judges agreed he won the war. There is no public scorecard yet, only the unanimous call and a new champion who did not need a knockout to take 26 pounds of gold. Rambolek’s counters and calm were the problem Yod-IQ said he understood. Versatility was the answer he promised. Over five rounds at Lumpinee, that was enough.
The division does not get quieter. Jonathan Haggerty has been waiting on a title road that kept getting longer. Anane is still in the picture after the loss that made Rambolek champion. Chatri Sityodtong had already pointed at a future meeting between this winner and the Nabil-Suakim side of the bracket as a mega-fight. None of that is booked. The belt is booked. It belongs to Yod-IQ.
Seksan Or Kwanmuang’s retirement loss sat on the same Inner Circle 30 card. The main event was the title. A 24-year-old on an 11-fight run walked out of the most famous stadium in Muay Thai as world champion because the other man missed weight and then lost the decision anyway.
Yod-IQ does not have to apologize for how the gold became available. He still had to beat Rambolek. He did. The first defense, when it comes, will be a real defense. Friday was the night he stopped being the dream chaser and started being the man with the belt.