“The best I could do” - Takeru says he gave it his all in shocking first-round knockout defeat to Rodtang

Japanese kickboxing legend Takeru Segawa lamented that the best he could muster was not enough against Thai superstar Rodtang Jitmuangnon in their marquee match last weekend in Japan.

'The Natural Born Krusher' was stopped by 'The Iron Man' in the opening round of their long-awaited flyweight kickboxing joust at ONE 172 on March 23 at the Saitama Super Arena.

Takeru got into early trouble in the contest and just could not get his game going after, which culminated in him on the receiving end of a nasty left hook from Rodtang that rendered him unable to continue just 85 seconds into the match.

During the post-event press conference for ONE 172, Takeru offered no excuses for the defeat but did underscore that he gave it his all and it was just unfortunate that did not pan out that way he wanted it to.

The 33-year-old Team Vasileus standout said:

"I haven’t seen the fight yet. But what I can say is what I did in the ring was the best I could do at this moment."

Watch the press conference below:

The win at ONE 172 was the third straight for Rodtang and earned him a $50,000 performance bonus from ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

Takeru, meanwhile, slumped to his second defeat in three matches in ONE Championship. He said he is going to sit down with his team and assess the next move they are going to take.

The replay of ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang is available at watch.onefc.com.

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Takeru touts ONE 172 as huge for combat sports in Japan

While he was not able to come up with a victory at ONE 172, Takeru Segawa believed that the marquee event at the Saitama Super Arena was huge for combat sports in Japan.

He highlighted it in the lead-up to ONE 172, which marked the return of ONE Championship to the 'Land of the Rising Sun' for the second straight year, sharing it would bring back well-deserved focus on the combat sports scene in Japan.

Takeru said:

"If we can demonstrate Japan's strength here, I believe the center of combat sports can return to Japan once again, so this is an incredibly important event."

Takeru may have lost his showdown against Rodtang Jitmuangnon, but eight of his fellow Japanese fighters did win at ONE 172.

Notably, Masaaki Noiri and Yuya Wakamatsu became the interim featherweight kickboxing and flyweight MMA world champions, respectively, with impressive knockout victories.