"No rest day" - ONE Championship notices 'Sexyama' Yoshihiro Akiyama is always getting in that weight-lifting work

ONE Championship recently posted a video on their Twitter account of Yoshihiro Akiyama, better known to the MMA world as ‘Sexyama’, getting in a workout on Monday.

The caption read:

“No rest day for @akiyamayoshihir!”

At 46 years old and after nearly 20 years in combat sports, Yoshihiro Akiyama is the epitome of a living legend in mixed martial arts. ‘Sexyama’ proved that once again when he stepped into the ONE circle for ONE X in March. Making the walk to the cage for the first time in over two years, Akiyama faced fellow living legend Shinya Aoki.

‘Sexyama’ scored a second-round knockout of Aoki in his return. Winner of back-to-back fights and three of his last five, Akiyama has no intention of slowing down.

During an appearance on The MMA Hour, he told Ariel Helwani:

“I will definitely go until I’m 50. That is my current goal, depending on my physical [ability]. If you calculate twice a year, I have four years left in me, so that’s more than eight [fights].”

Catch the full interview below:

Akiyama discussed the difficulty in making the 170-pound weight limit, but said he will continue to make the tough weight cut if it leads to a title opportunity.

“I’m going down to 170, but there were times were I almost fainted, so it’s quite difficult for me,” Akiyama said. “So I might go back to 185... 170 and [185] I’m considering, but I want to fight a champion. I’m not there yet but I want to keep on fighting so I can challenge.”

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Yoshihiro Akiyama wants to help ONE Championship bring the promotion to Korea

Aside from his title aspirations, Yoshihiro Akiyama also wants to help ONE Championship bring the promotion to Korea for the first time. He further told Helwani:

“For me, I’ve been talking to Chatri [Sityodtong about doing ONE Championship in Korea. This has never happened before.”

‘Sexyama’ not only wants to bring the organization to Korea, he wants to do it with a star-studded lineup of Korean talent, including the UFC featherweight 'The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung.

He told Sportskeeda MMA:

"In my mind there are three names, 'The Korean Zombie', Kim Dong Hyun, who is still under contract with UFC, and 'Mr Perfect', [who] is also still with the UFC. I want them to sign with ONE Championship. This is another target of mine."