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Wei Rui gave Hiroki Akimoto credit for testing him at ONE Fight Night 22. Last Friday represented a special moment in Wei's professional fighting career as he made his ONE Championship debut.
'Demon Blade' was quickly tested in the world's largest martial arts organization with a kickboxing matchup against Akimoto, the former ONE bantamweight world champion.
Wei and Akimoto went to war for three close rounds before the Chinese-born fighter emerged victorious by unanimous decision. Akimoto and some fans later disputed the result, which could lead to an immediate rematch.
During his post-event interview, Wei had this to say about Akimoto after they fought at ONE Fight Night 22:
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"Compared to my other opponents before, I feel harder with this kind of opponent and I always use the same tactics to control them."
The replay of ONE Fight Night 22, including the war between Wei and Akimoto, can be seen for free by North American and Canadian viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.
Watch Wei Rui's entire post-fight media interview below:
Chatri Sityodtong wants immediate rematch between Hiroki Akimoto and Wei Rui
Hiroki Akimoto isn't the only person who believes he deserved to get his hand raised against Wei Rui at ONE Fight Night 22. ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong also didn't agree with the judge's decision, which he explained by saying this during his post-event interview on Friday:
"It was a super close fight, but I thought Akimoto won. I would love to do a rematch. Fans all over the world as debating the outcome, even in China."
Following his debut win, Wei Rui called for a bantamweight kickboxing world title shot against two-sport king Jonathan Haggerty. 'Demon Blade' may have to fight again, potentially against Hiroki Akimoto, in the meantime, as Haggerty is scheduled to defend his bantamweight Muay Thai throne against Superlek on September 5 in the ONE 168 co-main event.
ONE 168 goes down inside the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. The highly-anticipated event features three world title fights, including Xiong Jing Nan (c) vs Stamp Faritex (women's strawweight MMA), and Kade Ruotolo (c) vs Mikey Musumeci (lightweight submission grappling).
