The wait is over. Indian wrestling star Ritu Phogat and Japanese judoka Itsuki Hirata will settle their unfinished business at ONE Samurai 1 on April 29 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, after a knee injury derailed their scheduled bout at ONE 173 last November.
The delay added an extra layer to an already intriguing matchup. When Phogat withdrew injured, Chihiro Sawada stepped in and handed Hirata a unanimous decision defeat, leaving the Japanese fighter with fresh motivation heading into this rescheduled clash.
For Phogat, Tokyo represents a chance to remind the atomweight division what she is capable of.
"The Indian Tigress" has one of the more remarkable stories in ONE Championship. A decorated wrestler who transitioned to MMA, she stormed through the atomweight ranks with seven wins from her first eight fights, her performances earning her a spot in the ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Grand Prix Final, where Stamp Fairtex ultimately stopped her run.
After a subsequent loss to Tiffany Teo and marriage and motherhood testing her resolve, the competitor who once shook the atomweight division has not disappeared.
Phogat arrives in Tokyo carrying a 7-4 record and the kind of renewed determination that only comes from fighting through genuine adversity.
Hirata brings her own sense of urgency to the contest.
The 26-year-old Tokyo native burst onto the ONE scene in 2019 with four straight victories, her judo background translating immediately into dangerous submission threats and punishing ground-and-pound that troubled opponents at every level.
A difficult stretch followed, and her recent loss to Sawada has only sharpened her desire to turn things around on home soil.
Hometown crowd, unfinished rivalry, and two fighters with everything to prove. ONE Samurai 1 keeps delivering.
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