5 fighters who live the lives of Cobra Kai characters

The latest season of Cobra Kai dropped on Netflix on the last day of 2021.

The series is a comedy-drama revival of the 80’s hit movie franchise, The Karate Kid, with the plot taking place nearly four decades after the original aired in movie theaters in 1984. Cobra Kai is currently one of the most-watched shows on Netflix over the past couple of years.

One of the biggest reasons why the show has been such a runaway success is because of its terrific acting. Led by its original stars Ralph Macchio (Daniel LaRusso) and William Zabka (Johnny Lawrence), many of the original actors reprise their roles, with the addition of a fresh new cast of young stars.

The new characters are lifelike and relatable, each with their own struggles and triumphs. Fans of the franchise have raved about the show’s ability to invoke feelings of nostalgia, bringing together throwback 80’s themes including its incredible soundtrack, while providing a fresh new story.

If you call yourself a martial arts fan but haven’t yet gotten the chance to catch this wonderful series, maybe you can better relate with these characters through some current fighters in ONE Championship who live the fictional backgrounds in their actual lives.

Read on to find five of the top characters in Cobra Kai and their ONE Championship counterparts.

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#5. Cobra Kai’s Eli ‘Hawk’ Moskowitz and ONE Championship’s Joshua Pacio

Eli Moskowitz was a shy boy who was often bullied because of his cleft lip during the first season of Cobra Kai, with only his mother to lean on during difficult times.

Later, he is inspired to try and stand up to his bullies by joining Cobra Kai. Eli gained confidence and built his karate skills through the tough love of sensei Lawrence, transforming himself into a confident young fellow who later became known as ‘Hawk'.

As Eli evolved as a fighter, he learned even more techniques and philosophies after sensei John Kreese took over the dojo. However, he soon left the dojo to try to make amends with his friends. In the fourth season, Eli becomes an integral member of the combined Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang Karate.

While he wasn’t bullied in his youth, ONE strawweight world champion Joshua Pacio was an overweight kid living with his mother, as his father worked overseas. His uncle, a Muay Thai practitioner, helped get him into martial arts to help him make a change in his life.

Soon, ‘The Passion’ made an incredible personal transformation, much like ‘Hawk', as he cut weight and improved on his craft.

Similar to 'Hawk's' character, Pacio also evolved by learning under the tutelage of another coach. Team Lakay’s Mark Sangiao helped elevate Pacio's skills in the sport that transformed him.

Pacio sporting a hairstyle that shoots upward is only a bonus in this comparison.

#4. Cobra Kai’s Tory Nichols and ONE Championship’s Xiong Jing Nan

Tory Nichols joined Cobra Kai’s second season and immediately made an impact as a loveable degenerate. She’s not afraid to break the rules for the sake of having fun.

Her feisty attitude, natural strength, and rapidly developing skills make her one of the toughest characters in the series. However, we learn that there’s more to Tory than just her tough exterior, as she also juggles responsibilities to take care of her sick and bedridden mother as well as her younger brother.

Tory carries these burdens herself, and we see throughout the series how everyone misunderstands her actions because of the image she projects.

ONE Championship’s Xiong Jing Nan may personify this character best. Amidst the generally respectful warriors in the promotion, the ONE women’s strawweight world champion is someone who isn’t afraid of claiming she would knock people out or calling out people who doubt her abilities.

While it may be perceived to be arrogance because of how tough she appears, Xiong actually respects her opponents a lot. Her supreme confidence is grounded on years of tireless work and sacrifice in pursuit of becoming better.

Like Cobra Kai’s Tory, she believes that no one can relate to her one hundred percent, and that the best person to solve her own problems is herself.

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#3. Cobra Kai’s Robby Keene and ONE Championship’s Sage Northcutt

In early seasons of “Cobra Kai,” we learned Johnny Lawrence had a pretty rough life and his troubles led to his failed marriage. With nothing to be proud of, he was never present in his son, Robby Keene’s life.

Robby turned out to be an unruly kid. However, a series of unplanned events led to him being under the care of his dad’s rival, Daniel LaRusso’s care. Robby was inspired by Daniel’s demeanor and gradually learned from him. Robby was surprisingly easy to teach, as it seems that martial arts runs in his blood.

In such a short while, he was able to learn the advanced techniques of Miyagi-do because of his natural curiosity and desire to grow. As he joined Cobra Kai in the fourth season, Robby’s proficiency in martial arts is evident, as he shows an ability to impart knowledge at such a young age.

Like Robby, martial arts also runs in the blood of ONE Championship’s Sage Northcutt. ‘Super’ has trained in karate since he was four years old and has shown incredible proficiency in the sport.

With Northcutt’s transition to MMA, he also integrates his learnings from karate in his pursuit to become a well-rounded fighter. While he may not be training others like Robby is in Cobra Kai, Northcutt does have multiple awards and championships to prove his mastery of several martial arts disciplines.

#2. Cobra Kai’s Samantha LaRusso and ONE Championship’s Angela Lee

Samantha LaRusso is the eldest of two kids in the LaRusso household, and we see in Cobra Kai that no matter how she tries to avoid it, martial arts is her birthright.

When she begins training, Samantha shows a natural ability in karate, and was easily molded in the ways of Miyagi-do. In the second season’s finale, Samantha was beaten badly by her rival, Tory Nichols, which shook her confidence. She has since overcome that, and in the latest season of the series, she appears to be eager to improve her skills by adding new philosophies.

In ONE Championship, we know of another strong woman that was meant to be a martial artist – Angela Lee.

Lee’s parents are both martial artists, and unlike Cobra Kai’s Samantha, she embraced her path to martial arts early. The reigning ONE women’s atomweight world champion started competing when she was six years old and racked up multiple accolades in various disciplines.

She earned the nickname ‘Unstoppable’ and was indeed that in her career, until she sought glory in the strawweight division. There, she was stopped for the first time and experienced the first back-to-back losses in her career.

The losses may have shaken her a bit, but similar to Samantha in the series, Lee has since shrugged it off and has put her energy into becoming an even better fighter.

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#1. Cobra Kai’s Miguel Diaz and ONE Championship’s Yuya Wakamatsu

Miguel Diaz is one of the main characters of the Cobra Kai series. He is a new kid in the neighborhood looking to make himself at home while living with his mother and grandmother.

After being protected from bullies by Lawrence, Miguel begged him to teach him his ways. This led Lawrence to re-open the dojo that taught him Karate – Cobra Kai.

Miguel took everything that his sensei taught to heart and applied it to his life. With no male role model to bring him up, he created a strong bond with Lawrence which helped him overcome challenges and excel in Karate.

In real life, Japanese flyweight champion Yuya Wakamatsu may have a similar backstory to Cobra Kai’s Miguel.

Originally from Kagoshima, Japan, Wakamatsu had a difficult childhood, as his parents divorced when he was in middle school. Eventually, his mom and two sisters moved to Tokyo, while he stayed in Kagoshima, working as a carpenter to help earn money for his family.

He often got into trouble and fistfights as a youth and a senior recommended martial arts to him. He would watch PRIDE and admire Ryo ‘Piranha’ Chonan’s fighting spirit that resonated with him.

When he moved to Tokyo a year after his family went there, Wakamatsu didn’t have friends. He sought to find refuge in martial arts, and Chonan’s Tribe Tokyo MMA was the only place he wanted to join.

Like Miguel, Wakamatsu has taken everything Chonan has taught him to heart. His affinity to his mentor is so strong that he even adopted Chonan’s nickname, as Wakamatsu is also known as ‘Little Piranha'.