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Newly crowned ONE flyweight MMA world champion Yuya Wakamatsu knows that more is going to be expected from him now that he is the king of his division. It is something he said he is ready to embrace and live up to.
'Little Piranha' finally broke through and became world champion after he stopped former divisional king Adriano Moraes by TKO in the first round for the vacant flyweight title at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang on March 23 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Following his title conquest, Yuya Wakamatsu shared his thoughts on his triumph in an Instagram post, including how he is going to approach his reign as world champion.
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Part of his post read:
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"From now on, as a champion, I will be even stricter on myself than before, and I will do my best to defend the throne while having fun. Thank you so much to everyone for your support!"
Apart from becoming the new flyweight MMA world champion, Yuya Wakamatsu also earned a $50,000 performance bonus for his impressive TKO win at ONE 172 from ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
The replay of ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang is available at watch.onefc.com.
Yuya Wakamatsu exacts payback on Adriano Moraes at ONE 172
Yuya Wakamatsu redeemed himself in a grand way at ONE 172 from a previous loss to Adriano Moraes by becoming a world champion.
It was a payback for the Japanese star, who was forced into submission by 'Mikinho' in their first encounter in March 2022, that saw Moraes retain the flyweight gold he was holding then.
In their rematch at ONE 172, Wakamatsu made sure there was no slip-up in his attacks, holding off the takedown attempts of Moraes before eventually cornering the former champion and inflicted damage that culminated in a ferocious ground-and-pound for the TKO victory in the first round.
The win ONE 172 was Wakamatsu's fourth straight, continuing his stirring turnaround after losing back-to-back matches previously.
