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ONE Championship returns to Japan with a heavy-hitting lineup that features a pair of flyweights in Superlek Kiatmoo9 vs. Takeru Segawa at ONE 165 this Sunday. A year ago, Superlek won the then-vacant ONE Kickboxing championship at ONE Fight Night 6 with a decision against Daniel Puertas. The ‘Kicking Machine’ was then scheduled for his first defense, which was expected against Rodtang Jitmuangnon. However, Jitmuangnon withdrew, and Superlek competed in Muay Thai for his next appearances.
After finally getting the fight with Jitmuangnon — in Muay Thai, not Kickboxing — the 28-year-old set his sights on his first official defense, which comes against Segawa. Though competing in front of a pro-Segawa crowd, Superlek is ready to spoil their hopes of seeing his opponent as champion.
“I have a lot of motivation for this fight. I get to defend my belt in Japan against the top-ranked fighter there,” said Superlek in an interview with Jay Furness of ONE. “I want to show all the Japanese people that I can defeat their hero. I badly want to knock him out as quickly as possible, even though I know this will not be an easy task.”
Segawa fights for the first time in ONE after the promotion announced his signing this past April. The start of his multi-fight deal was set for ONE 165, where he was originally expected to fight the aforementioned Jitmuangnon. When that fell through due to injury, the former three-weight K-1 Kickboxing champion accepted Superlek as a new opponent.
“He has been fighting in Muay Thai for a long time [before kickboxing], possessing Muay Thai techniques and strong kicks,” said Segawa to Ben Coate of ONE. “In terms of the match content, I believe it will be a battle between my punches and Superlek’s kicks. Since this match has five rounds, it may become a match where one of us falls. I absolutely want to KO Superlek and win the belt.”
Other fights featured at ONE 165 include Shinya Aoki vs. Sage Northcutt, Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Nieky Holzken and Garry Tonon vs. Martin Nguyen.
ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru full fight card
Main card
- – Superlek Kiatmoo9 🇹🇭 vs. Takeru Segawa 🇯🇵; flyweight (Kickboxing)
- – Kade Ruotolo 🇺🇸 vs. Tommy Langaker 🇳🇴; lightweight (Submission Grappling)
- – Shinya Aoki 🇯🇵 vs. Sage Northcutt 🇺🇸; lightweight
- – Yoshihiro Akiyama 🇯🇵 vs. Nieky Holzken 🇳🇱; 187.25-pound catchweight
- – Marat Grigorian 🇦🇲 vs. S. Sitsongpeenong 🇹🇭; 156.5-pound catchweight (Kickboxing)
- – Garry Tonon 🇺🇸 vs. Martin Nguyen 🇦🇺; featherweight
- – Itsuki Hirata 🇯🇵 vs. Ayaka Miura 🇯🇵; atomweight
Prelims
- – Danny Kingad 🇵🇭 vs. Yuya Wakamatsu 🇯🇵; flyweight
- – Rade Opacic 🇷🇸 vs. Irak Azizpour 🇮🇷; heavyweight (Kickboxing)
- – Bokang Masunyane 🇿🇦 vs. Keito Yamakita 🇯🇵; strawweight
- – Hiroba Minowa 🇯🇵 vs. Gustavo Balart 🇨🇺; strawweight
Start time and date
ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru goes down on Sun., Jan. 28, live from the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. The event starts at 5 p.m. locally, which is 3 a.m. ET | 12 a.m. PT.
Tickets
Purchase tickets for ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru here.
Live streams
For the preliminary card of ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru, you can watch it on the following: Watch.ONEFC.com, ONE Facebook, or ONE YouTube.
For the main card, you can purchase it at Watch.ONEFC.com for $39.99 USD.
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