Yuya Wakamatsu admits he ventured into unknown territory in loss to Adriano Moraes at ONE X: “I was confident, yet imperfect”

Japanese star Yuya Wakamatsu hopes to even the series with Adriano Moraes when they run it back at ONE 172.

The No. 2-ranked contender wants to spring an upset of the former divisional king and lay his hands on the vacant ONE flyweight MMA world title inside the Saitama Super Arena next Sunday, March 23.

After seeing his five-match winning streak come to a crumbling halt when he faced Adriano Moraes at ONE X in March 2022, 'Little Piranha' enters this sequel with plenty of upgrades to his craft.

The Tribe Tokyo MMA warrior has spent countless hours mixing things up on the canvas and in the striking department.

On top of that, he's taking this rematch with a bit more caution after admittedly being too overconfident in his first fight against the Brazilian veteran inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium:

“Looking back at the ONE X event, when I fought [Adriano Moraes], I was immature and I just felt overwhelmed, and my mentality was such that I was confident, yet imperfect. So that’s the difference," he told ONE Championship.

Wakamatsu has won three in a row since losing to Moraes. Whether or not all these changes will propel him to victory is far from certain, though.

Moraes is fired up to upset the hometown favorite and kickstart his fourth reign atop the flyweight MMA mountain.

The American Top Team and Constrictor Team affiliate heads into this battle off a sensational submission win of Danny Kingad in their rematch at ONE 169 in November last year.

Before getting his hand raised against the No.3-ranked Filipino firecracker, 'Mikinho' suffered back-to-back losses to multi-time MMA world champion Demetrious Johnson.

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Watch: Adriano Moraes' gallery of highlight-reel finishes ahead of Yuya Wakamatsu redo

Before Adriano Moraes takes to the circle inside the Saitama Super Arena, ONE Championship posted his entire gallery of highlight-reel finishes on Instagram.

Watch the clip here:

The Brazilian veteran has competed 16 times under the ONE spotlight, racking up 11 wins and eight finishes coming against Demetrious Johnson, Kingad (twice), Wakamatsu, Tilek Batyrov, Eugene Toquero, Geje Eustaquio, and Yasuhiro Urushitani.

ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang will be available via pay-per-view at watch.onefc.com on Sunday, March 23.