Reigning ONE Flyweight MMA World Champion Yuya Wakamatsu defends his title against Avazbek Kholmirzaev at ONE SAMURAI 1 on April 29 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, in what promises to be the most intense test of his reign so far.
For a fighter riding the form of his life, the challenge is welcome.
Wakamatsu's rise to the top of the flyweight division has been built on back-to-back landmark performances. He claimed the vacant ONE Flyweight MMA World Title at ONE 172 with a TKO stoppage of Adriano Moraes in front of his home crowd, then returned to Tokyo at ONE 173 and stopped ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Joshua Pacio via TKO to make his first defense in equally emphatic fashion.
Five consecutive victories and a 10-4 ONE record paint the picture of a man who has found his peak at exactly the right time.
Kholmirzaev represents something different from any challenger Wakamatsu has faced. The 25-year-old Uzbek has rampaged through the flyweight division with eight finishes from his nine ONE victories, riding a six-fight winning streak into this title shot. His finishing instinct never switches off, a quality Wakamatsu acknowledges with genuine respect.
"From the first round, he always goes for the finish. Even when he's tired, he never gives up on finishing. That mentality is what makes him so strong," the champion said.
Yet Wakamatsu sees clear gaps in the challenger's game that no previous opponent has been equipped to exploit.
"He does get hit by right hands sometimes. And also, he's never fought someone stronger than himself, like me. You'll see that in this fight. When he faces me, things that worked before won't work anymore," Wakamatsu said.
He has run through every conceivable scenario in his preparation and emerged with a firm prediction about how the night will end.
"I have a lot of images in my head for all the different scenarios I've thought through. But if I had to say, ground TKO. A pound-out finish," he said.
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