Keito “Pocket Monk” Yamakita

Japanese mixed martial arts star Keito Yamakita was born in the coastal prefecture of Mie in the city of Inabe. There, he developed a love for wrestling. “Pocket Monk” soon started competing in Pancrase, where he went on to become the organization’s strawweight champion. 

On February 22, 2021, however, he hit a career high when he competed in Road to ONE: Young Guns in Japan. On that night, he beat his opponent by second-round knockout via knee. He then joined ONE Championship the following year with an unblemished 7-0 record in MMA. 

Yamakita is now aiming to use his freestyle wrestling and newfound Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills to propel him to the top of ONE’s loaded strawweight mixed martial arts division.  

He claimed a huge win on debut when he outpointed former ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Alex “Little Rock” Silva at ONE Fight Night 8. Then he had a competitive showing against top contender Bokang “Little Giant” Masunyane in January 2024, proving he can hang with the very best strawweight MMA athletes in the world. 

Yamakita will once again knock on the door of the top five if he can get the job done against ultra-dangerous Filipino star Jeremy “The Jaguar” Miado at ONE 166: Qatar on Friday, March 1.