"He had a displeased look on his face" - Masaaki Noiri explains how his tactical calf kicks broke Tawanchai in Saitama

Japanese striker Masaaki Noiri's calf kicks have been known to produce mayhem, and they helped set up another highlight-reel finish at ONE 172 in the Saitama Super Arena on March, 23.

The knockout artist delivered a career-defining performance over Thai megastar Tawanchai PK Saenchai in their ONE interim featherweight kickboxing world title tussle that served as the co-main event of the promotion's return to Japan.

Noiri, a former two-division K-1 world champion, unleashed a punch that knocked out the ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion for the first time in his ONE Championship tenure at 1:55 of the third round.

While his finishing sequence sure had more magic, the Team Vasileus representative shared insights on the methodical groundwork that set up his US$50,000 bonus-winning display in "The Land of the Rising Sun" in an interview with My Navi News.

"On my calf kicks, I think it didn't affect him initially," Masaaki Noiri admitted, but a slight adjustment to his game plan did slowly start to hurt Tawanchai, as he added, "But when I switched stances, and I kicked the calf on his left lead leg, I could see he had a displeased look on his face."

Watch the full interview here:

That tactical brilliance was as clear as day the deeper the fight went on.

Despite being on the receiving end of the PK Saenchaimuaythai Gym athlete's waves of attacks early, he switched things up to take home the biggest W of his career, ONE gold, and stop Tawanchai's nine-fight win streak across Muay Thai and kickboxing.

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Liam Harrison reveals he didn't have Masaaki Noiri finishing Tawanchai on his bingo card

ONE Championship superstar and British striking icon Liam Harrison was just as stunned as most fight fans when Masaaki Noiri dropped the Thai crusader en route to his ONE interim featherweight kickboxing world title triumph.

"I thought Tawanchai could beat him on points, but I thought it would be a really hard fight for him because I know Noiri is tough as nails. And he's awkward and he comes forward doing like them horrible kicks, calf kicks, and stuff like that," the three-time Muay Thai world champion told Nick Atkin in a separate interview.

Noiri's victory in Saitama marked his first back-to-back wins under the ONE spotlight after he booked a shot at the interim crown with a vicious second-round finish of Iraqi pride Shakir Al-Tekreeti — with his stinging calf kicks — at ONE 170 in January.

Fight fans can head to watch.onefc.com to catch ONE 172 via replay.