“It's just the starting line” - Itsuki Hirata still hungry to improve striking skills following victory over Lin Heqin

Young Japanese mixed martial artist Itsuki Hirata earned her fifth win inside the circle with a unanimous decision victory over ‘MMA Sister’ Lin Heqin at ONE on Prime Video 1. Despite getting the win, Hirata’s win was criticized after the fighter showed a fair amount of reluctance throughout the 15-minute affair.

Hirata was able to sway the judges with solid performances towards the end of the second and third rounds, including a spectacular right hand that dropped Lin Heqin with 20 seconds to go in the bout.

In the lead-up to the bout, Hirata traveled to the United States to enhance her striking skills after a loss to Jihin Radzuan at ONE X in March. Following her win, Itsuki Hirata was asked in her post-fight interview if she felt her striking leveled up since her last outing. Hirata said:

“I don't think so. But I spent a lot of time in New York City, for almost four weeks, and I trained hard, especially for striking, and it's just the starting line. But I'm sure I can be stronger. That's what I feel right now.”

‘Android 18’ was noticeably hesitant to engage in striking with Heqin. However, she feels that her striking has improved and plans to make another trip to the United States to continue her progress:

“I only spent four weeks, but I feel that I improved a lot. That means if I train more, I can be stronger. So I want to keep training. But first I want to go back to Japan to see my family. Because I haven't been back to Japan for a while, so maybe I will stay two weeks in Japan, and then I will go back to the USA again.”

Watch Itsuki Hirata drop Lin Heqin below:

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Itsuki Hirata happy to have been able to compete in US primetime for training partners in New York

As a fighter on the ONE on Prime Video 1 lead card, Itsuki Hirata was one of the first fighters in ONE Championship history to compete in front of a potential 200 million subscribers on Amazon Prime Video. It was an incredible night of fights, and Hirata expressed her excitement to be part of the historic event:

“I am so happy that my fans and my teammates in the States can watch my fight live. Because, you know, when I was in New York, so many teammates and fans asked me how can I watch your fight? And I said, yeah, it's going to be Prime Video. So I'm so happy.”

With the win over Lin Heqin, ‘Android 18’ moves to 5-1 under the ONE Championship banner. While ONE atomweight titleholder Angela Lee will be busy with ONE women’s strawweight world champion Xiong Jing Nan at ONE on Prime Video 2 later this month, Itsuki Hirata could be a viable contender for the atomweight crown with one or two solid wins in the division.