Takeru reveals true reason behind dream move to ONE Championship

Japanese striking sensation and former K-1 world champion Takeru Segawa made headlines this week when he announced he had signed to ONE Championship on a multi-fight contract.

The 31-year-old from Yonago, Japan is considered one of the pound-for-pound best strikers on the planet. He was a highly sought after free agent before ONE Championship scooped him up.

At a recent press conference in Tokyo, Takeru met with ONE Championship chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong in person to officially announce the signing. There, Takeru expressed the reason as to why he wanted to join the world’s largest martial arts organization. The Japanese fighter said:

“I had always wanted to challenge the world during that strongest period, so I wanted to compete on the stage of ONE, where many of the world's strongest fighters are gathered at this time.”

Takeru’s signing with ONE Championship opens up a myriad of possible super-fights for the 31-year-old star.

A showdown with ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 is one possibility, given that Takeru’s main discipline is kickboxing. Another blockbuster offering could come against newly crowned ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion ‘The General’ Jonathan Haggerty, as well as reigning ONE bantamweight kickboxing world champion Petchtanong Petchfergus.

But the real super-fight Takeru has his eyes set on is against ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion ‘The Iron Man’ Rodtang Jitmuangnon. Rodtang has emerged as one of the biggest martial arts stars the world over, especially after making his U.S. debut last week at ONE Fight Night 10.

Rodtang annihilated former WBC Muay Thai International champion Edgar Tabares to win by second-round knockout in front of a sold-out 1stBank Center crowd in Broomfield, Colorado on May 5th.

This has effectively set the stage for a Takeru showdown with Rodtang in the very near future.

But while that fight gets ironed out, fans in the United States and Canada can watch Rodtang’s impressive KO victory over Tabares and the rest of the stacked ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs Moraes III card absolutely free via replay on Amazon Prime.