‘A Country That Brings Out Good Things In Me’ – How Yuki Yoza Found A Second Home In The Netherlands
Former K-1 Champion Yuki Yoza has carved his career out of the technical traditions of Japanese kickboxing. The Netherlands, it turns out, had a few things to add to the formula.
The 28-year-old returns to action in a bantamweight kickboxing matchup against English striker Ben “The Problem” Woolliss at The Inner Circle 22 on Friday, July 17, inside Bangkok’s iconic Lumpinee Stadium. The Asia primetime card streams exclusively for members at live.onefc.com.
The career he has built stretches well beyond Japan’s borders. When sparring partners became increasingly difficult to find at home, the Team Vasileus star looked elsewhere, and found far more than he bargained for.
Mike’s Gym, based in Oostzaan just north of Amsterdam, has become a place he keeps returning to for the biggest fights of his career. The dojo, and the people inside it, ended up giving him far more than quality sparring.
Yoza said:
“The first time I went to the Netherlands was around after I became the K-1 Champion. Around that time, sparring partners in Japan were getting harder to find.
“It was a great experience, and since then I’ve made a point of going before my important fights.”
The experience inside Mike’s Gym delivered more than world-class training partners and opposition, too.
Yoza encountered a training culture that operated on a different set of assumptions – and the differences between the Dutch and Japanese schools ran deeper than any technical breakdown could capture.
He continued:
“What separates the two in terms of style is that the Dutch-style is more physical. The image that I have is of powerful single combinations.
“The Japanese-style is more connected, more dexterous. The Dutch seem to cover things with physicality.”
The contrast is one Yoza has had years to absorb and measure against his own kickboxing upbringing in his home country.
At Team Vasileus in Tokyo, where stablemates Masaaki Noiri and the legendary Takeru “Natural Born Krusher” Segawa have both tasted ONE Championship gold, the standard for preparation has always been unyielding. Hard work is a given, not a differentiator.
But what the Japanese star discovered inside the training halls of Oostzaan was a different kind of hunger altogether:
“The Dutch are more hungry. In Japan, there’s a tendency to do the training you like, the training you’re already good at, the training you want to do.
“But over there, they’re training to genuinely make a living from martial arts. You can see it. The feeling people bring to a single sparring session is different.”
The Bonds That Keep Yoza Hungry
Mike’s Gym has given Yuki Yoza more than a place to train. The relationships built there have followed him home, and they remain a more constant presence than many might expect.
For a fighter whose domestic commitments keep him rooted in Japan between visits, the frequency of contact from Oostzaan says something about the quality of what was built there.
The former K-1 Champion shared:
“Actually, I’m in more regular contact with them than with Japanese fighters. They reach out a lot.
“I’m close with Chico Kwasi. Andy Souwer reaches out often too. Honestly, a really wide range of people contact me from there.”
The regularity of those exchanges points to something deeper than professional courtesy.
What has taken shape between Yoza and like-minded warriors on the mats in the Netherlands is the kind of connection that does not require proximity to stay alive. In fact, the effect it has on his own competitive drive is equally real.
He reflected:
“The fact that you can build friendships across borders is just something incredible in itself. And when they’re doing well, naturally I want to do even better. They’re the kind of people who give me that good kind of push.
“That kind of crazy spirit – like going out there even when your hand wraps aren’t done right – that has kind of seeped into me. It just clicks with me. It’s a country that brings out good things in me.”
