“I have watched him closely” - Yushin Okami shares his respect for Aung La N Sang and desire to test his skills

Despite fighting into his forties, Japanese veteran Yushin Okami is still setting goals.

At a Tokyo press conference promoting the upcoming ONE 163 card in Singapore, Okami shared how his fight with pioneering Burmese middleweight Aung La N Sang is the culmination of a thoroughly thought-out plan:

“I have been fighting at welterweight in ONE, but what I left out and what I wanted to do in ONE was to fight Aung La N Sang who won two weight classes as an Asian.”

Rumors of the Okami vs. Aung La matchup have been floating around on social media since the summer. The bout is a crossroads fight for both men, who have been fighting professionally in MMA since early 2000s.

Yushin Okami is coming into the fight after winning a split decision over Agilan Thani at ONE: Century in October 2019. The 41 year-old has fought for PFL, Pride, Pancrase, and even fought for the UFC middleweight championship in 2011.

For Aung La, this is the perfect fight for him to get back on track after dropping three of his last four. Okami is a well-known name and a tough competitor, but hasn’t been nearly as active and is older than “The Burmese Python”.

However, Yushin Okami said that he has been using his time off to prepare and pine for the fight. Expressing his respect for Aung La, Okami said:

“I have watched him closely, respected him, and thought he was great. I moved up to middleweight to fight him. I thought this was the best thing to do in ONE. I asked on social media, and Aung La N Sang and Chatri eventually agreed to set up the fight”.

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Chatri Sityodtong weighs in on Yushin Okami’s return

ONE Chairman and CEO, Chatri Sityodtong, also expressed his excitement for the matchup at the presser, mentioning numerous storylines ahead of Yushin Okami’s return:

“And then you have Yushin who is obviously one of the greatest from Japan. And he has been inactive. Not his fault. It was because of covid and his opponent Leandro Ataides had COVID last time. And Yushin had a lot of questions, you know? Is he past his prime? Will he have another shot at glory? So the stakes are very high for this fight for both fighters”.

For a fighter who has as much mileage as Yushin Okami, the three years away from competing could be to his advantage.

The two will fight on the main card of ONE 163, a Japanese-centric card that goes down November 19 in Singapore. Fellow Japanese MMA fighters Shinya Aoki, Itsuki Hirata, and Yuya Wakamatsu will also compete on the card, with the main event seeing Hiroki Akimoto defend his lightweight kickboxing belt against Petchtanong Banchamek.