WATCH: Japanese star Yuya Wakamatsu goes headhunting in collection of furious finishes in ONE Championship

The flyweight MMA division of ONE Championship has always been stacked with talent from top to bottom, and Japanese star Yuya Wakamatsu is one of the division's most polished strikers.

While fans have come to expect Japanese MMA fighters to grapple more inside the circle owing to their native martial art of judo, Wakamatsu gravitated more towards striking, which has greatly benefited his career.

'Little Piranha' has produced an eight-win resume in ONE consisting of three knockout finishes against renowned strikers Geje Eustaquio in August 2019, Kim Kyu Sung in November 2020, and Xie Wei in July 2023.

Take a look at Wakamatsu's knockout wins below, which ONE shared on Instagram:

Defeating Xie kicked off Wakamatsu's current three-fight winning streak, which includes unanimous decision outings over Danny Kingad and Gilbert Nakatani in January and December of 2024, respectively.

This cemented his opportunity to fight for the currently vacant ONE flyweight MMA world championship at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang on Sunday, March 23, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Wakamatsu's opponent will be the same man who thwarted his dreams of gold in March 2022 via submission: then-reigning ONE flyweight MMA king Adriano Moraes.

---

Adriano Moraes hints at Yuya Wakamatsu feeling immense pressure ahead of ONE 172

Adriano Moraes believes that Yuya Wakamatsu's relative silence in recent days compared to the lead-up to their first encounter is due to him feeling the pressure to win 26 pounds of flyweight MMA gold in front of his compatriots.

'Mikinho' said as much in an interview with the promotion:

"This time he's fighting at home and all the pressure is on him. So I also believe that's why he's a little quieter. He knows that beating me is very difficult, so I'm sure he's much more focused now than before."

ONE 172 will be available live on pay-per-view at watch.onefc.com.