Itsuki Hirata shows full support for fellow Japanese fighters Yushin Okami and Hiroki Akimoto at ONE 163

Itsuki Hirata has shown that she is one of the best prospects in ONE Championship’s women's divisions. The Japanese prodigy is proud to represent her nation alongside some of the biggest names from the region.

At ONE 163, Hirata will face the biggest fight of her career to date when she takes on No.2-ranked atomweight contender Ham Seo Hee. After rebounding from her first professional loss, Itsuki Hirata now finds herself one win away from putting herself in pole position for a shot at Angela Lee’s atomweight world championship.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Hirata spoke about how honored she is to get to compete alongside her fellow Japanese fighters who have some big fights of their own coming up:

“I’m so excited for [Yushin] Okami’s fight. Because I followed their storyline from three years ago. Hiroki’s fight, we are Japanese, and I would like to support his fight too.”

One of Japan’s most recognizable fighters, Yushin ‘Thunder’ Okami, is making his return to the circle after three years away from competition in a legend vs. legend match-up against Aung La N Sang.

Hiroki Akimoto will compete in the main event of ONE 163, with Hirata on the undercard. Akimoto will look to defend his bantamweight kickboxing world championship against Petchtanong Petchfergus.

---

Itsuki Hirata says Ham Seo Hee "has too much to lose" in their atomweight clash

Ahead of the biggest fight of her career, Itsuki Hirata believes that her opponent is the one who is feeling the pressure of the occasion.

After struggling to find her way into the top of the division, Hirata will finally get her chance against the No.2-ranked atomweight contender Ham Seo Hee on Saturday, November 19. Whilst it’s the biggest fight of Hirata’s career, Ham Seo Hee has a lot more to lose by putting her ranking on the line.

The South Korean veteran is coming off a split-decision win in the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix and was scheduled to face Stamp Fairtex in the semi-finals but was forced to pull out due to an injury. Instead, she left no doubts over her split decision win against Denice Zamboanga by defeating her again at ONE X.

With Itsuki Hirata now in a position to steal the title shot from Ham Seo Hee, she spoke to ONE Championship about the stakes going into this match-up:

“My strong point is [that I have] nothing to lose. I think my opponent has too much to lose. She feels a lot of pressure, I think. She thinks too much about having to win or that she doesn’t want to lose to a young fighter.”