"It was a great experience" - Newly crowned flyweight MMA king Yuya Wakamatsu on epic ONE 172 in Saitama

Current ONE flyweight MMA world champion Yuya Wakamatsu was still on cloud nine following his incredible first-round TKO finish of Adriano Moraes during their championship clash at ONE 172 last March 23.

Wakamatsu and the other Japanese athletes on the card sent the home crowd inside the legendary Saitama Super Arena by winning their respective matches.

With this incredible event, 'Little Piranha' was grateful to the world's largest martial arts organization for giving them the platform and stage to showcase their skills, not only for their compatriots but also throughout the world.

He shared this during his interview with My Navi News, where he stated:

"I'm happy with how things went for some of us Japanese athletes. I'm really grateful for a show like ONE 172. It was a great experience, you know.

Watch Yuya Wakamatsu's interview here:

With this victory, the 30-year-old athlete extended his current win streak to four and avenged his previous defeat to 'Mikinho' in March 2022 at ONE X.

Furthermore, he secured the $50,000 performance bonus from the ONE honcho Chatri Sityodtong.

Yuya Wakamatsu says that his desire to improve helped him achieve his dream of becoming a world champion

The Tribe Tokyo MMA representative claimed that his constant pursuit of being a well-rounded fighter has been the key to his path toward the world title, as he told My Navi News in the same post-fight interview.

Wakamatsu said that he has improved a lot in his recent outings, and it showed during his performances inside the ring, as he stated:

"Looking at the clip, I used to be a boxer with a step-in and step-out kind of style, but I guess in these last three to four fights, I have improved a lot on that, changing my style. This gave me a bit of confidence. I think I was constantly evolving on my road to the world title."

Fans can rewatch all the action at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang via watch.onefc.com.