Four Japanese ONE Championship Fighters Who Won World Titles On Home Soil
ONE Championship makes history again on Wednesday, April 29. ONE Samurai 1, the first installment of a brand-new monthly series built around Japan’s greatest martial artists, descends on Tokyo’s Ariake Arena with multiple ONE World Titles on the line and a nation holding its breath.
Takeru Segawa steps into the ring for the final time, chasing redemption and the interim ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Title against Rodtang Jitmuangnon in a rematch that fans around the globe have been clamoring for.
Yuki Yoza, Japan’s hottest kickboxing star, gets his long-awaited shot at Jonathan “The General” Haggerty‘s ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Championship. Plus, Yuya “Little Piranha” Wakamatsu puts his ONE Flyweight MMA World Title on the line for the second time on home soil against Avazbek Kholmirzaev.
This is the biggest night in Japanese martial arts history. But to understand what it means, you have to understand what came before it.
Since ONE first arrived in Tokyo in 2019, Japanese fighters have risen to the occasion on the grandest stage in combat sports, winning ONE World Titles in front of their home fans when the pressure was at its absolute peak.
Here are the fighters who led the way.
Aoki Comes Home A ONE World Champion
When ONE landed in Tokyo for the very first time in March 2019 with ONE: A NEW ERA, it needed a moment to match the magnitude of the occasion. Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki delivered one.
Japan’s most iconic submission grappler walked into the Ryogoku Kokugikan and reclaimed the ONE Lightweight MMA World Title in front of his home nation, cementing his legacy and setting the tone for every Japanese fighter who would follow.
This was more than a rematch. It was a redemption story playing out on the grandest stage ONE had ever constructed. Aoki had previously held the lightweight crown before losing it to Eduard “Landslide” Folayang in November 2016.
Getting it back in front of a sold-out Tokyo crowd from Folayang at ONE’s historic inaugural Japan event carried enormous symbolic weight. He wasn’t just fighting for a belt. He was fighting for legacy, for his country, and for proof that he remained the most dangerous grappler in the world.
Aoki wasted no time. From the opening bell, he pressed Folayang toward the Circle Wall, using his trademark clinch work to drag the Filipino to the canvas. “Landslide” tried to frame and create space, but the Tokyo native slipped his head past his opponent’s elbow with the precision of a surgeon.
The arm-triangle choke was locked in before the crowd had fully processed what was happening. Ryogoku Kokugikan erupted. The whole sequence lasted just over two and a half minutes.
Aoki forced the tap via arm-triangle choke at 2:34 of the first round, reclaiming the ONE Lightweight MMA World Title to a thunderous Tokyo roar. The victory marked his second reign and his most emotionally charged win on the global stage. “Tobikan Judan” had come home, and he’d come home a ONE World Champion.
Wakamatsu Makes Japan Wait No Longer
Wakamatsu didn’t just win a ONE World Title in Japan. He defended it there too. In a stunning 2025 campaign that made him ONE’s MMA Fighter of the Year, “Little Piranha” captured the vacant ONE Flyweight MMA World Championship in March, then backed it up with an equally explosive defense eight months later. Both times in front of his home fans. Both times by TKO.
His road to gold was paved with painful setbacks. He had suffered a crushing submission loss to Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes in 2022, the very man standing across from him at ONE 172 in March 2025 with the vacant flyweight strap on the line.
The fighter who vows to be the man his father wasn’t came out guns blazing. He loaded up on power shots from the first exchange, and a clean left punch caught Moraes just as the clinch broke, staggering the former titleholder. “Little Piranha” swarmed him immediately, backing Moraes into a corner and unleashing a left hook-uppercut combination that left the Brazilian turtled up and unable to defend.
Wakamatsu stopped “Mikinho” by TKO at 3:39 of round one to claim the vacant ONE Flyweight MMA World Title. It was also his fourth straight win and earned him a US$50,000 performance bonus.
Then, at ONE 173 in November 2025, he welcomed strawweight king Joshua “The Passion” Pacio in a blockbuster two-division showdown and delivered again. Pacio tested him early with aggression and a high kick, but Wakamatsu absorbed it, reset, and in the second round, he landed a clean one-two that dropped the Filipino.
What followed was ruthless: a barrage of grounded knees that forced the stoppage at the 54-second mark of the frame. Wakamatsu made his first defense via second-round TKO over Pacio and, in the process, banked another US$50,000 bonus.
Two fights, two finishes, and two roaring Tokyo crowds. “Little Piranha” had arrived and showed no signs of leaving.
Noiri Shocks The World On Home Soil
Nobody gave Masaaki Noiri a chance at ONE 172 in March 2025. Not the fans. Not the pundits. Not even ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, who admitted he didn’t believe the Tokyo resident could pull it off.
But inside Saitama Super Arena, in front of a stunned Japanese audience, the former two-division K-1 Champion did the unthinkable. He stopped the dominant Tawanchai PK Saenchai to become the ONE Interim Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion.
At the time, Tawanchai was – and still is – the reigning ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Champion and arguably the best 155-pound striker on the planet. Noiri had gone just 1-2 in his first three promotional appearances.
On paper, this was a mismatch. The fight seemed like it was Tawanchai’s path to two-division glory, not a platform for a Japanese fighter to make history. But that’s exactly what made it electric, as Noiri pulled off one of the biggest kickboxing upsets the world has ever seen.
Tawanchai controlled the first two rounds, peppering Noiri with sharp push kicks and crisp combinations that had the Japanese striker on the back foot. The Tokyo dynamo absorbed punishment patiently, all while studying his opponent and biding his time.
As soon as round three opened, everything changed. Noiri increased his output, closed the distance, and dug to the body before going upstairs with a vicious short left hook. Tawanchai crumpled to the canvas. He answered the referee’s count but had nothing left. The Japanese athlete swarmed him along the ropes, throwing relentless shots until the referee stepped in.
Noiri won by TKO at 1:55 of the third round, claiming the ONE Interim Featherweight Kickboxing World Championship and a US$50,000 performance bonus. Saitama Super Arena shook. Even Sityodtong was speechless at the post-fight press conference. It was one of the most shocking upsets in ONE history, and it happened on Japanese soil.
Nadaka Makes History For Japan
History was always going to be made at ONE 173. But when Nadaka walked out of Ariake Arena as the inaugural ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion – his six-year, 40-fight unbeaten streak still intact – Japan had something it never had before: a ONE Muay Thai World Champion.
The 24-year-old didn’t just win a title. He made history for his entire nation. No Japanese fighter had ever won a ONE Muay Thai World Title before this night.
Nadaka, a 10-time Muay Thai World Champion across Rajadamnern Stadium, Lumpinee Stadium, the WBC, and the WMC, had spent his career proving that a Japanese fighter could compete with the very best in the world’s most storied striking art.
His ultimate test was for the inaugural belt in a newly created division against Numsurin Chor Ketwina, a Thai fighter with over 100 career wins and a perfect 6-0 ONE record, on home soil, in front of an Ariake Arena crowd that expected greatness.
From the opening bell, Nadaka controlled every frame with the technical mastery that had defined his six-year dominance. He used feints to lure Numsurin forward, then countered with surgical precision. A sharp left straight late in round one set the tone for what was to come.
Numsurin showed his savvy in the second frame, landing a huge overhand right that connected cleanly, but Nadaka’s lateral movement and evasiveness kept him out of serious danger. Round after round, the Japanese star’s footwork frustrated every adjustment his Thai opponent attempted, and the judges saw it clearly.
All three scored it for Nadaka via unanimous decision, making him the inaugural ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion and the first Japanese fighter ever to win Muay Thai gold in ONE. For Japan’s greatest Muay Thai fighter of his generation, it wasn’t just a belt. It was validation on the world’s biggest stage.
Aoki. Wakamatsu. Noiri. Nadaka. Four fighters who refused to wilt under the weight of expectation and delivered when it mattered most. Now, with ONE Samurai launching a new era of Japanese martial arts on April 29, the next chapter is ready to be written. The question is … who will write their name into this list next?
