Keito Yamakita hopes to get a slot at stacked ONE 172 card in Saitama, show Japanese MMA is “at the very top tier”

Keito Yamakita wants to maintain his momentum, and he believes his home country of Japan is the best place to extend his winning streak.

The Japanese grappler is coming off a stellar unanimous decision win over Lito Adiwang in their strawweight MMA clash at ONE Fight Night 28 this past weekend at the historic Lumpinee Stadium.

The victory pushed Yamakita's winning streak to three fights, and he now wants to get a slot at the stacked ONE 172 card at the iconic Saitama Super Arena on March 23.

In an interview with Nick Atkin for the Bangkok Post, Yamakita said ONE 172 is the perfect avenue to push Japanese martial arts.

Keito Yamakita stated:

"The attention that ONE 172 is getting will mostly go to kickboxing matches. But also, there are very elite MMA fighters in there - Yuya Wakamatsu and also [Shinya] Aoki. If possible, if I can also be present there at ONE 172, I would love to show that Japanese MMA level is also at the very top tier."

ONE 172 is ONE Championship's return to Japan after the country hosted the blockbuster ONE 165 card that featured Japanese kickboxing legend Takeru Segawa taking on Thai megastar Superlek Kiatmoo9 in the main event in January 2024.

Superlek ultimately retained his ONE flyweight kickboxing world title via unanimous decision despite Takeru's inspiring challenge.

As of writing time, ONE 172 features eight Japanese fighters. Takeru will face off against Rodtang Jitmuangnon in a five-round kickboxing super fight in the card's main event.

Masaaki Noiri is in the card's co-main event when he takes on ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion for the ONE interim featherweight kickboxing world title.

Tickets for ONE 172 are available at E-Plus.

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Keito Yamakita says a match at ONE 172 would redeem his loss to Bokang Masunyane

The last time Keito Yamakita fought in Japan, it didn't end the way he had hoped.

Yamakita fell short against Bokang Masunyane via unanimous decision at ONE 165 in a match that he still feels the sting to this day.

In the same interview with Bangkok Post, Yamakita said getting a slot at the stacked ONE 172 card would be a poetic part of his redemption arc.

"Yes, of course. Last time, I lost to Bokang in my home country, so it’s gonna make a good drama story, so let’s do it."

Watch Yamakita's entire interview below: