“I had to adapt” – Superlek admits Takeru’s unpredictability threw him off guard in their ONE 165 encounter

Reigning and undisputed ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion ‘The Kicking Machine’ Superlek Kiatmoo9 figured in arguably the toughest fight of his professional career last weekend, when he locked horns with former multi-division K-1 world champion ‘The Natural Born Crusher’ Takeru Segawa.

The two headlined a stacked card from top to bottom at ONE 165.

ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru was held at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, January 28th, and was broadcast live globally on pay-per-view via watch.onefc.com.

After five grueling rounds of action, Superlek came out on top on the judges’ scorecards to win by unanimous decision, ultimately retaining his ONE Championship gold, as well as taking home a US $50,000 performance bonus in the process.

However, the 28-year-old Thai icon admits it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park squaring off with the Japanese superstar, who was cheered on by his hometown crowd.

In the official ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru post-fight interviews with the media backstage, ‘The Kicking Machine’ said that Takeru’s versatility made him extremely difficult to predict and deal with.

The 28-year-old Bangkok, Thailand native stated:

“One of the things is that every time Takeru came in and tried to throw left hook and right hook, I planned to do a high kick. And then at the match, everything was so different. Takeru had been preparing himself very well to block my counterattack, so I had to adapt and survive in the ring as well.”

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Superlek details harrowing third round where Takeru had him reeling against the ropes

As mentioned, it wasn’t a lopsided victory in favor of Superlek. Takeru indeed had his moments, especially in the third round when ‘The Natural Born Crusher’ emptied the tank to try and stop the Thai warrior inside the distance.

Superlek described how he was affected by Takeru’s punches.

“It was at the end of the third round. I took that shot from Takeru and my body literally froze and the only thing that I thought in my head was that I have to have a fighting spirit, I have to do whatever it takes to survive on the third round and continue fighting on the fourth round.”