Allycia Hellen Rodrigues is crossing over. The reigning ONE women’s atomweight Muay Thai world champion will make her professional MMA debut against France’s Charlotte Padié at The Inner Circle 39 on Friday, November 20, at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. ONE Championship announced the atomweight bout on X Monday, and Yahoo Sports carried the full details shortly after. The card goes off at 6:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET) and streams for subscribers on live.onefc.com.
Both women will be making their pro MMA debuts, so neither brings a record into the matchup. That’s an unusual setup for a champion’s first step into a new sport, and it tells you ONE wants this to be a striker’s measuring stick before anything else.
Rodrigues, a 28-year-old Brazilian, has owned the atomweight Muay Thai division since she arrived. Her ONE debut in August 2020 came against then-champion Stamp Fairtex, and she left with the belt in her first fight with the promotion. She stepped away for the birth of her child, then came back in 2023 and unified the title against interim champion Janet “JT” Todd. Defenses followed against ISKA K-1 champion Cristina Morales, British striker Marie McManamon and Johanna Persson. Her most recent fight was her biggest: she became the first person in ONE to beat Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom, the promotion’s kickboxing champion in the division.
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The MMA move has been brewing for a while. According to Yahoo Sports, Rodrigues has been training jiu-jitsu and MMA at Phuket Fight Club for years, and the stated long-term target is the ONE women’s atomweight MMA world title.
Padié’s credentials are on the feet too. She’s a French national champion in both kickboxing and Burmese boxing (lethwei), and she picked up amateur MMA experience on the French circuit earlier this year before deciding to turn pro. Taking that first pro fight against the best female Muay Thai fighter ONE has ever had is a bold choice, and an upset would make her famous overnight.
Quick take
The striking matchup is fun, but the fight gets decided by who’s willing to start grappling first. Two kickboxers in an MMA bout often spend three rounds circling while everyone waits for a takedown attempt that never comes. Rodrigues has years of jiu-jitsu and MMA reps at Phuket Fight Club behind her. Padié has an amateur run from this year. I’d bet the first clinch tells us everything, because if Rodrigues can catch a kick, run Padié into the fence and finish a single-leg, she gets to fight on her terms from then on. I’m taking Rodrigues, probably inside the distance. The more interesting question comes after November 20, when we find out how fast ONE wants to rush her toward that atomweight MMA belt.
