ONE Championship has announced a pair of major matchups for their debut at the historic Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on March 23rd.
Hosting a card in the same location where historic presentations from Pride FC, K-1, Dream FC and RIZIN have all taken place in the past, ONE has announced a kickboxing super-fight, plus an MMA matchup to crown their next 135-pound champ following the recent retirement of Demetrious Johnson.
The main event will see one of the country’s most popular kickboxers, Takeru Segawa, face off against highly prolific Muay Thai talent and ONE vet Rodtang Jitmuangnon.
While a fight between the two kickboxers was long a hard-to-achieve matchup due to Rodtang being locked into a long-term deal with ONE, the opportunity for such a matchup to be made became possible when Takeru inked a deal with the promotion in 2023. Since then, it’s been a dream match that the promotion has hyped and discussed extensively.
ONE initially hoped to debut the multi-time K-1 Japan champ against Rodtang early this year as part of their last show in Tokyo. However, they had to change plans after the Thai fighter suffered an injury and subsequently withdrew from the card. Instead, Takeru was given another huge challenge: Facing 135-pound kickboxing champ Superlek Kiatmoo9 in a title fight.
The five-round clash didn’t go Takeru’s way, as a relentless leg kicks along with other strikes from Superlek allowed him to pull ahead early and secure a unanimous decision win.
Takeru returned in September to secure his first win in the promotion, putting together a dominant one-round beating against short-notice opponent Thant Zin for a quick finish. Following the statement victory, he’s back to being booked for one of the biggest fights he could take in the promotion.
Rodtang has proven to be a dominant force in ONE’s Muay Thai scene, having defended his belt five times since initially earning it in 2019. Apart from a high-profile 2023 loss to Superlek, Rodtang has put together nine victories in kickboxing or Muay Thai since July 2020.
135-Pound Stalwart Moraes Looks For Fourth Title Reign In Rematch Against Wakamatsu
Before the clash between highly popular strikers, ONE will find its next 135-pound champ. In a fight to find the new bantamweight king after the legendary Demetrious Johnson announced his departure from MMA and vacated his title just recently, veterans Adriano Moraes and Yuya Wakamatsu will meet.
Moraes, the first-ever 135-pound ONE champ back in 2014 and a man who has held the title a combined three times over the past decade, will look to prove that he is once again the best in ONE now that Johnson has left the sport.
The last Moraes title reign came to an end due to a fourth-round flying knee knockout from Johnson in 2022, wrapping up a lengthy championship run which included a pair of title defenses and numerous years with the belt.
Brazil’s Moraes looked to later avenge his loss – like he had done with two of his three previous career defeats – but was unsuccessful when he met Johnson for a second time. While not succumbing to a gnarly flying strike knockout like the first time, Moraes lost on scorecards last year, taking him out of the promotion’s title picture for the first time since 2016.
Shortly after Johnson’s announcement to retire in September, Moraes returned to action with a second-round guillotine choke win over fellow promotional vet Danny Kingad. He will now look to start his fourth run with a belt, something nobody else has done in the promotion’s history.
Wakamatsu, a talent who has fought on the ONE roster since 2018, will be aiming for his first major MMA title run when he appears in March. The upcoming fight is a chance at revenge for him, rematching Moraes nearly three years after he lost to the Brazilian vet via submission in a 2022 title fight.
29-year-old Wakamatsu has regained momentum since that defeat, having put together a trio of victories since 2023. In recent months he got past the aforementioned Kingad and beat U.S.-based prospect Gilbert Nakatani on scorecards.
Knockdown News 