Takeru’s desire to fight ONE Championship fighter was “most decisive factor” in free agency 

Japanese kickboxing superstar Takeru Segawa was the talk of the town after finally inking a deal with ONE Championship.

Turns out, his eagerness to fight a certain individual in the Singapore-based promotion ultimately sealed his decision to join the largest martial arts organization in the world.

Appearing in front of the Japanese media at a ONE Championship joint press conference with the promotion’s CEO Chatri Sityodtong, the 31-year-old had nothing but praises for his new home:

“As an organization, they have recently had a competition in the U.S. and have had successful competitions around the world. They're an organization that has a tremendous amount of respect for their fighters, something like that.”

Moreover, the former multi-division K1 world champion spilled the beans on the main reason he chose ONE over other promotions seeking his services:

“The most important thing was that there was a fighter in ONE that I wanted to fight. That was the most decisive factor.”

While Takeru Segawa did not mention any names, all signs point to him pertaining to reigning ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon.

Even before Takeru officially took his talents to ONE Championship, ’The Iron Man’ called him out on social media. Here’s Rodtang’s cheeky call challenge:

"I’m personally calling out [Takeru Segawa] for a fight in ONE. If you do not answer my challenge, the fans will know why."

After defending his belt for the fifth time at ONE Fight Night 10 last weekend, the Thai brashly called out the promotion’s latest signee again.

Meanwhile, ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong already teased a Takeru vs Rodtang clash in Japan sometime this year, so looks like the ‘Natural Born Crusher’ will get his wish.