‘Almost Too Perfect To Be Real’ – Nadaka Yoshinari Reflects On The Inspiration Behind Takeru’s Legendary Farewell
World Championship gold has never been the only thing driving Nadaka Yoshinari. Sometimes, the most profound motivation comes from watching someone else say a perfect goodbye.
It all traces back to ONE SAMURAI 1, where the Japanese superstar successfully defended his ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Title against Songchainoi “Mini-Hulk” Kiatsongrit. That pivotal night also featured the final bout in the legendary career of Takeru “Natural Born Krusher” Segawa.
Nadaka was closer to that historic milestone than almost anyone else in the building, though circumstances unfortunately kept him from soaking in the atmosphere quite the way he would have liked.
That evening ultimately marked the start of something even bigger for the young prodigy. He went on to open his kickboxing account with a striking masterclass at ONE SAMURAI 3, defeating Har Ling Om via unanimous decision to push his professional record to an incredible 68-6 and extend his winning streak to 42.
He now defends his Muay Thai crown against dangerous challenger Rifdean Masdor in the co-main event of ONE SAMURAI 4 inside Tokyo’s Ariake Arena on Saturday, October 17.
As fate would have it, that will not be the last time Nadaka finds himself sharing a star-studded card with the Japanese icon. Takeru will be formally inducted into the ONE Hall of Fame that exact same night — a deeply fitting way for their paths to cross once more.
He has long admired the kickboxing legend, and what he watched unfold at ONE SAMURAI 1 still resonates with him today.
Nadaka told onefc.com:
“It was his retirement fight, plus a revenge match against a guy who’d beaten him before, and it was also the main event of the show – every kind of pressure you could stack on someone.
“And under all that, he put together the best version of himself, the best performance of his career, and finished the guy inside the distance instead of leaving it to the judges.”
Takeru closed out his career in spectacular fashion inside the Japanese capital, securing a dramatic fifth-round TKO victory over Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon to claim the ONE Interim Flyweight Kickboxing World Title, avenging an earlier loss to the Thai megastar in the process.
As much as Nadaka desperately wanted to witness that moment unfold live from the arena floor, his own fight-week obligations unfortunately got in the way. It is a timing issue he still wrestles with.
The pride of Eiwa Sports Gym revealed:
“I actually got pulled into doping testing right around then. There was a monitor there so I did watch the whole thing on screen, but missing out on feeling that live in the arena – that’s a regret I’ll carry for life.”
Watching from a screen did nothing to lessen the immense weight of what he witnessed, however. Takeru’s career had already been defined by legendary battles and selfless charitable work, giving his farewell an even greater sense of occasion — the kind that only comes once in a generation.
Closing it out with a decisive finish felt like the perfect final chapter to that story. That spectacular victory also came with a massive performance bonus of 15 million Japanese yen (roughly US$100,000) on top of the ONE Interim Flyweight Kickboxing World Title.
For a martial artist who has spent years studying what greatness actually looks like up close, watching someone else pull it off so flawlessly stirred something in the 25-year-old that he was not shy about admitting.
Nadaka added:
“Genuinely, it felt almost too perfect to be real. Obviously, it came out of everything he’d put in, all his effort. But honestly, I was jealous, genuinely jealous, of how that whole story played out for him.
“It made me really feel that pull, that drawing power he has to make a moment like that happen. That’s the difference between him and me.”
What Nadaka Still Wants From Takeru’s Playbook
That honest admission says plenty about where Nadaka Yoshinari currently sees himself compared to the icon he grew up admiring, and how willing he is to sit with that gap rather than pretend it does not exist.
Charisma like Takeru’s cannot simply be manufactured, and the Kanagawa native knows better than to pretend he has already reached that level of global magnetism.
The ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion explained:
“Takeru really has that [special charisma]. I don’t think I have that kind of pull yet, that ability to move the whole scene by myself.
“Honestly, I feel like it’s not something you can just chase down and grab on purpose anyway. What matters more for me is not losing myself, sticking firmly to my own style.”
Rather than chase an identity that belongs to someone else, Nadaka prefers to hold onto the principles that got him here in the first place. He intends to rely on the exact same groundwork that carried him long before Takeru’s retirement ever gave him a new milestone to chase.
That crystal-clear vision is exactly what he plans to lean on against Rifdean Masdor at ONE SAMURAI 4, relying on elite technique rather than any borrowed sense of showmanship.
It also profoundly shapes how he views his martial arts journey as a whole, distilled into a single thought that says more than most lengthy answers ever could.
The Japanese fighter concluded:
“Honestly…it’s like ‘a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.’ Not exactly one word, I know, but that’s the feeling. I really started building this foundation back in fifth grade.
“Everything since – my coach, everyone at my gym, all my instructors – all of that groundwork is what connects straight through to who I am today. So from here, I want to keep aiming higher and climb there together with my team.”
