Boxer Pham Cong Minh defends his championship title against Zakhar Dmitrychenka

Champion Pham Cong Minh will defend his belt at LION Championship 22 against challenger Zakhar Dmitrychenka. Photo: VMMAF

This is the first championship title defense match in 2025 organized by the Vietnam Mixed Martial Arts Federation (VMMAF), for boxer Pham Cong Minh in the 84kg weight class with his challenger - opponent Zakhar Dmitrychenka from Belarus. The match will be the highlight of the LION Championship 22 (LC 22) event held at 7:00 p.m. on May 10, 2025, at Tay Ho Stadium, Hanoi .

Pham Cong Minh won the LION Championship 84kg at the LC 11 event in December 2023 when he defeated Tran Quoc Toan in the 3rd round. Currently, he holds a total record of 4 wins in the LION Championship MMA arena.

Before starting his mixed martial arts career, Cong Minh was already a symbol of Vietnamese Wushu Sanshou with consecutive national championships from 2014-2024. In the international arena, the most impressive mark of the martial artist born in 1994 is the silver medal at the 2019 World Wushu Championship.

On the other side, Zakhar Dmitrychenka is a wrestler who has caused a stir on Vietnamese social networks in the early days of spring 2025 at village wrestling rings. Before coming to Vietnam in 2022, Zakhar had achieved the Master of Sport Wrestling title in his native Belarus - a title given to wrestlers who have won national championships for many years in a row. In addition, Zakhar won a bronze medal at the International Belt Wrestling Association World Championship (similar to Kurash) in 2017, and was in the Top 10 in Classical Wrestling at the U23 World Wrestling Championship 2018.

Zakhar Dmitrychenka joined the LION Championship in 2024 and had two victories over Vietnamese representatives Le Hong Giang and Tran Quoc Toan, earning him the right to challenge Pham Cong Minh. The confrontation between Pham Cong Minh and Zakhar Dmitrychenka was the first time two world-class martial artists faced off at the LION Championship.

LION Championship 22 also attracted attention with the first appearance of the MMA Trio format. At LION Championship 21, the MMA Duo format created an explosive effect with the matches of Nguyen Tien Long - Nguyen Trung Hai (Raptor MMA) and Nguyen Xuan Phuong - Nguyen Ngoc Thuc (Tank Club). The simultaneous team competition format continued to be welcomed by the audience.

Two teams will participate in the MMA Trio format from C88 with representatives: Nguyen Nguyen Chuong - Nguyen Quoc Bao and Luiz Finocchio (Italy) facing The Champ MMA with three fighters Bach Van Nghia, Le Quang Minh and Mahmoud Aboelkheir (Egypt). Six fighters from the two teams will enter the ring and face each other within 10 minutes of competition.

In addition, LION Championship 22 continues to introduce matches in traditional MMA formats - MMA Striking and MMA Ground Fight. Among them, some prominent faces appear for the first time such as Tran Huy Hai - National Wushu Sanshou champion against Nguyen Thanh Thoan - National Muay/Kickboxing silver medalist.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/vo-si-pham-cong-minh-bao-ve-ngoi-vo-dich-truoc-zakhar-dmitrychenka-701633.html