“This fight will be an exciting one” - Yuya Wakamatsu looks to get his revenge on Adriano Moraes at ONE 172

Yuya Wakamatsu expects his long-awaited rematch with Adriano Moraes to be an exciting one.

Emanating from the iconic Saitama Super Arena in Japan on Sunday, March 23, Wakamatsu will look to capture his first 26 pounds of gold when he challenges 'Mikinho' for the vacant ONE flyweight MMA world championship.

It will be one of five massive world title clashes at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang.

Though he came up short against Moraes in their first meeting at ONE X in March 2022, suffering a submission loss, 'Little Piranha' is more than confident that he'll not only come out on top, but he'll deliver a fight that fans will remember.

“I am very confident this time and I believe however it ends up, this fight will be an exciting one, I believe,” Wakamatsu told ONE Championship in a recent interview.

Yuya Wakamatsu's confidence is by no means misguided.

After all, the Japanese star is going into ONE 172 riding a three-fight win streak, including a TKO over Xie Wei and back-to-back unanimous decisions against Danny Kingad and Gilbert Nakatani.

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Yuya Wakamatsu knows just how dangerous Adriano Moraes is

Needless to say, if Yuya Wakamatsu hopes to leave The Land of the Rising Sun with the ONE flyweight MMA world title wrapped around his waist, he'll have to defeat one of the greatest fighters the weight class has ever seen.

Throughout his career, Moraes has captured the flyweight crown three times with four successful defenses—his biggest coming against none other than P4P great Demetrious Johnson.

"I went down this way of losing myself," Wakamatsu added. "Yes, in my view, Adriano is really the real one - he had defeated Demetrious Johnson, the champion at the Grand Prix."

ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang will emanate live from the Saitama Super Arena in Japan on Sunday, March 23. Head over to watch.onefc.com to purchase the pay-per-view.