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Former ONE bantamweight kickboxing kingpin Hiroki Akimoto believes that ONE Championship is everything that he ever wished for in a martial arts organization. The Evolve MMA representative is set to return to action on the stacked ONE Friday Fights 81 billing on September 27 in Bangkok, Thailand.
The event marks Akimoto's tenth appearance under the promotion and second consecutive fight this year against some of the best strikers on the planet.
Reflecting upon his collaboration these last five years with ONE Championship, Akimoto says that he's having an amazing time representing an organization that reflects his core values.
As a result, he hopes to continue competing at the highest level to give fans the kind of matches that they respect and love.
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Speaking to ONE ahead of OFF81, Akimoto said:
"There are various martial arts organizations, which I think is a good thing. I like ONE Championship as an organization, and I always fight with respect for my opponents. The other fighters do too. I think it's a great organization with many good people as fighters. I feel happy to be able to fight there."
ONE Friday Fights 81 will air live in Asian primetime via watch.onefc.com.
Watch Hiroki Akimoto building some serious knockout power and strength for ONE Friday Fights 81
Hiroki Akimoto has one goal in mind that keeps him motivated every single day.
The 32-year-old superstar intends to bounce back from a two-fight skid with a fantastic highlight reel finish in order to catapult himself back into a world title picture.
Fortunately for Akimoto, he has an unbelievable skillset to turn things around. He defeated big names in the industry before joining ONE in 2019, but he truly found his footing after moving up from flyweight to bantamweight in 2022.
Along the way, he picked up the kickboxing bantamweight belt when he defeated Capitan Petchyindee in a brutal beatdown for five rounds. Now, he's just hungry to take back what was once his - to achieve that requires power.
Watch Hiroki Akimoto's strength training in an Instagram clip below:
