Japanese kickboxing star and ONE Championship's biggest recent acquisition Takeru Segawa is already making headlines ahead of his promotional debut. This is due to the staggering resume he's had in the sport so far.
Segawa, who goes by just his first name Takeru, is the only three-division world champion in the long storied history of K-1 Kickboxing. The young Japanese prodigy has a pro record of 42-3 and has strong momentum after snagging the ISKA and K-1 Gran Prix lightweight world titles in his last outing.
Ahead of his ONE Championship debut, the 'Natural Born Crusher' posted a video of his frightening pad work on his Instagram. We felt the impact of those kicks all the way out here here:
"Today もthank you!! The rage is loud. @masakazu925 @shintaro.matsukura"
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Those kicks can destroy someone's insides like a baseball bat in full swing. Whoever Takeru Segawa is facing in his ONE debut, he better be prepared for those.
In his last performance before signing with ONE, Takeru utterly starched then-ISKA K-1 63.5 kg world champion Bailey Sugden with a powerful head kick.
The high kick was made possible by Takeru's crushing body attacks. Judging from the sound of his roundhouse kicks in the video, we can definitely say that he'll be throwing those come his ONE debut.
Takeru Segawa is a forward-moving fighter who has a penchant for going into slugfests inside the pocket. In his bout with Sugden, the Japanese world champion battered the Brit with power hooks and roundhouses inside. By the fifth round, Sugden was almost solely protecting his body, leaving his head prone to the fight-ending kick.
One world champion in the promotion who can undoubtedly give the Japanese superstar a great fight is ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon. Upon hearing of Takeru's signing, 'The Iron Man' jumped on social media to call out the Japanese striker.
At the moment, Rodtang is booked to defend his world title against fellow Muay Thai icon and ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 at ONE Friday Fights 34 on September 22. If he defends his belt against his fellow world titleholder, perhaps another superfight against Takeru Segawa could be booked.