Black Panther had done everything right. Then, minutes before showtime, everything went wrong.

The Thai knockout artist finally gets his rescheduled flyweight Muay Thai clash against Colombian-American striker Diego Paez at ONE Fight Night 42 on Prime Video.

Their three-round clash will be part of the organization’s next American primetime spectacle, which emanates live from Bangkok’s legendary Lumpinee Stadium on Friday, April 10.

The story of how this rematch came to be, however, is one of the most gut-wrenching last-minute incidents of the year.

When the two were originally booked to collide at ONE Fight Night 40 in February, the Team Mehdi Zatout representative arrived at fight week in perfect condition — weight down, hydration checked, preparation complete.

There was no warning, no red flag, and no reason to suspect that the night was about to fall apart completely.

During his pre-fight interview with ONE Championship, Black Panther walked through exactly how it unfolded.

“I ate everything as usual. That morning, I hadn’t even eaten anything yet, and I didn’t have any unusual symptoms leading up to it at all. It happened right as I was about to get in the van to [go to] the stadium,” the Thai dynamo recalled.

“We only had a few minutes before the walkouts. At that point, there were two choices: fight or don’t fight. If I chose to fight, I wouldn’t be allowed to drink any water, which would have been brutal on my body,” the 26-year-old added.

Black Panther targets statement performance against Diego Paez at ONE Fight Night 42

The decision to withdraw while riding a four-fight winning streak, fully prepared and moments from his walkout, would have broken a lesser fighter’s spirit.

Instead, Black Panther returned to the gym within days, found out the bout had been rebooked without him having to ask, and spent the weeks since sharpening a game plan he intends to finally execute on Friday night.

ONE Fight Night 42 is the payoff for a camp that never truly ended. Wherever the fight unfolds, you’d best bet that the Thai striking maestro will be ready to do whatever he can to get his hand raised against the Colombian-American fighter.

North American fight fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can catch the entire card, live in U.S. primetime, for free this Friday, April 10.