Kana is thinking big. The Japanese star defeated Yu Yau Pui via unanimous decision in an atomweight kickboxing contest at ONE Fight Night 46 and wasted no time in mapping out an ambitious road ahead after claiming her third ONE victory.
The three-round contest was exactly the battle Kana had anticipated. Both strikers traded fire for fire throughout, with Yu's toughness and output making every round hard-earned.
But Kana's volume and relentlessness proved the difference when the scorecards were read, and the former four-time K-1 Champion walked away with a result that keeps her firmly in the atomweight kickboxing conversation.
"The toughness of my opponent, Yu Yau Pui, was actually within my expectation, and she came out so tough, like I expected. I have an impression of Yu Yau Pui as someone who is a very good fighter, a very strong fighter," she said.
Now, Kana knows the path back to a title rematch runs through a specific list of opponents first. Phetjeeja is set to defend her kickboxing crown against Greece’s Antonia Prifti at The Inner Circle 28 on August 28, and that matchup feeds directly into Kana's calculations.
"First I lost against Vero. And second, the opponent that's going to fight Phetjeeja, Antonia Prifti, I lost to her before during my K-1 period. So at least I need to win against these two fighters in order to get a revenge against Phetjeeja," she explained.
The ambitions extend beyond the kickboxing division entirely. Allycia Hellen Rodrigues claimed a split-decision victory over Phetjeeja earlier this year to retain the ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Title, and Kana has her eye on that matchup as well, in a different rule set.
"Right now, mainly, I have three people in mind: Phetjeeja, Vero, Antonia Prifti. There's another one I'm looking at, which is Allycia Hellen Rodrigues, who won against Phetjeeja. So if possible, I want to fight Allycia in Muay Thai rules," she added.
Leave a comment
Please login to leave a comment.