John Wayne Parr Signs To Compete In ONE Championship
John Wayne “The Gunslinger” Parr is now part of the ONE Super Series roster.
The 10-time kickboxing and Muay Thai World Champion is a martial arts icon who has competed at the highest level in promotions around the world for more than two decades.
Now, he will aim to secure his 100th professional win in the world’s largest martial arts organization.
The Australian spoke about how much he loved ONE before his protégé, Rocky Ogden, faced Sam-A Gaiyanghadao at ONE: KING OF THE JUNGLE last month.
Parr was impressed with how the organization attracted so many of the world’s top kickboxing and Muay Thai athletes to compete under exciting rules.
He also talked about a potential match-up against an old rival he would love to meet once again.
“In my career, I’ve been lucky to fight with Yodsanklai [IWE Fairtex] three times, and to fight Yodsanklai with mixed martial arts gloves on in a cage – man, that would be such a killer fight,” he said.
“I think we would stop the world. I think everyone would stop [what] they’re doing, go to the ONE Championship app, and they’d be in for the fight of their life. It’d be so exciting.
“Yodsanklai punches so hard, so the thought of him fighting in mixed martial arts gloves sort of makes my tummy turn, and possibly diarrhea, but at the same time, imagine if I won – it’d be so cool.
“I believe in my punching power in mixed martial arts gloves. I think if I could be the man to knock Yodsanklai out, that would help cement my legacy, for sure.”
Parr admires many of the athletes he has seen on the global stage.
However, “The Gunslinger” reserved special praise for the ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix Champion, and revealed he would love to test himself against the kickboxing icon from Italy.
“Another one of my favorite fighters in ONE Championship is Giorgio Petrosyan,” the Aussie said.
“He’s such a talent. I’ve got to witness him fight live a few different times. He’s always been one of those guys that I thought our paths would cross, but they never did. He’s such an elite athlete, and his career speaks for itself. I think it’s a hundred-and-something fights with only one or two losses, so the guy is a legend.
“Win, lose, or draw, just to share the ring with him would be a very proud moment that I’d look back on in years [to come]. It’s like Ramon Dekkers – he’s one of those ones where win, lose, or draw, it doesn’t matter [because] you got to share the ring with a legend.
“The only way to become a legend is to fight a legend, and Petrosyan will go down in history as one of the greats.”
