ONE Championship's Yosuke Saruta wants to test his wrestling skills against Gustavo Balart at ONE: Bad Blood

ONE Championship's Yosuke Saruta is one week away from a Circle return against Gustavo Balart at ONE: Bad Blood next Friday, February 11.

The 34-year-old veteran is coming off a knockout loss against ONE strawweight champion Joshua Pacio in September 2021. He is ready to shake off the rust and start his 2022 campaign on a winning note against the Cuban wrestler.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Saruta detailed his scouting report on Balart:

"I was really impressed with his spirit. Despite having short range in striking, he compensated that with impressive wrestling skills. I feel like I want to test my own wrestling against a former Olympic wrestler. I'm not running away from his wrestling at all and if anything, I want to see how my grappling matches up to his."

It is worth noting that while Balart is the more experienced grappler of the two, it is Saruta who has a submission win to his name. He got it all the way back in August 2012. Of course, a lot has happened since then in his career. Saruta now has to prove that his grappling power has not waned and that his lone submission win was not a one-off.

Regardless of the finish, getting the win is of the utmost importance for Saruta. He needs to work his way back up the ONE Championship rankings following two consecutive knockout losses to Pacio.

When asked about his comeback plan, Saruta said that he wants to prove his worth against the rest of the ONE Championship strawweights first before even thinking of a possible fourth match against Pacio:

"As of right now, I don't really intend on rematching against him anytime soon. But I want to go against fighters that I haven't fought yet like Brooks, Bokang and so forth."

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Yosuke Saruta and Gustavo Balart fight for ONE Championship redemption at Bad Blood

Heading into ONE: Bad Blood, both Yosuke Saruta and Gustavo Balart have one goal in common: redemption in the Circle. Somewhat similar to Saruta's aforementioned struggles, Balart has yet to shake off a nightmarish start in ONE Championship where he lost his first three promotional fights in a year's span.

With a win against Saruta, the 34-year-old will have his first winning streak since his days at Titan FC in 2018.

Both men have a lot left to prove, but are not getting any younger in the process. A win at ONE: Bad Blood could very well be a pivotal career point.