From Garbage Collector To Kickboxing Superstar: Yuki Yoza’s Incredible Path To ONE SAMURAI 4
Before packed arenas chanted his name, Yuki Yoza measured his life by early-morning alarms and pitch-black skies.
That blue-collar grind now travels with him into a high-stakes bantamweight kickboxing clash against former ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Champion Nabil Anane at ONE SAMURAI 4 on Saturday, October 17, broadcasting live from Tokyo’s Ariake Arena.
For five long years, well before the glitz and glamour of the global stage found him, Yoza worked as a municipal waste collector in the biting cold of the Tokyo streets. The demanding job required jogging alongside the truck, lifting heavy sorting bins, tossing industrial-grade bags, and weaving through narrow residential alleys on a punishing schedule.
It was fast, repetitive, highly physical labor — the exact kind of daily grind that builds functional core strength, constant footwork, and immense grip endurance almost by accident. Unknowingly, those were the very tools his budding kickboxing career would eventually come to depend on.
Sleep came whenever he could steal it, often caught between legs of a grueling commute across prefectures just to make it to practice. Even with aching muscles, he would wash the grime from his skin, shake off the deep fatigue, and step onto the tatami mats, where the real work finally began.
He recalled:
“I would work in the morning, which would be from 2-5 a.m., and then it would take me two hours to get to the gym.
“I would train, then go home to take a rest. I wake up for a night shift, go home to sleep for a few hours and then do it all over again the next day.”
Looking back now, it might seem like a job unfit for a man of his current stature. But Yoza carried it with immense pride all the same.
In Japan, waste management is a highly organized, contracted labor force. Beyond simply being honest work, it carries the profound weight of essential civic duty, perfectly embodying the country’s traditional shokunin kishitsu — the craftsman spirit that finds deep purpose and absolute dignity in a job done well.
Balancing two demanding shifts while relentlessly chasing his athletic ambitions was by no means easy, but quitting never once crossed his mind. He credits the people around him for keeping him from ever walking away.
The Ibaraki native shared:
“My co-workers knew of my kickboxing career, and all of them were rooting for me. The people around me, my friends and family, have always supported me and my career. So I’m very grateful to them.”
Nothing about that exhausting chapter is something Yoza wishes away. If anything, hauling trash taught him invaluable lessons no training camp ever could.
His attitude today still carries the exact same rhythm as those early mornings. One foot in front of the other, and work that simply has to get done, regardless of how tired the body feels.
He added:
“That experience has always helped me to stay hungry. Whenever I look back on that experience and remember all that I have been through, it makes me hungrier. It makes me motivated to work harder.”
The All-In Bet Yoza Made On Himself
Years of grinding through sanitation work eventually gave Yuki Yoza something money alone could not buy: the financial means and the dedicated time to commit himself fully to the sport.
The massive gamble paid immediate dividends. He turned professional in 2019 and reeled off seven consecutive victories in his debut year.
The ironclad discipline his past instilled in him was only part of the winning equation. Yoza also heavily credits finding the right mentor at the exact right time in Masakazu Watanabe. Training under him at Team Vasileus unlocked the full extent of his potential, working alongside fellow Japanese superstars like former ONE Interim Flyweight Kickboxing World Champion Takeru “Natural Born Krusher” Segawa and former ONE Interim Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion Masaaki Noiri.
He explained:
“The moment I decided to go fully into martial arts, I was just thinking, I want to have a chance like everyone else. I just wanted to compete with everybody else. It was a hard road to get to that point, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to fight.
“I would say the turning point of my career was meeting my trainer, Watanabe-san. He helped me to compete at the highest level and guided me through some difficult times. I am very thankful to have met him.”
Wins rapidly began piling up, and Yoza’s name started echoing through the very same Tokyo streets he once cleaned for a living.
The 28-year-old captured the K-1 World Championship in 2023, inked an exclusive contract with the world’s largest martial arts organization in 2025, and solidified his fearsome reputation by toppling former divisional kings Petchtanong Petchfergus and “The Kicking Machine” Superlek.
For anyone grinding through a similarly unglamorous path, Yoza stands as living, breathing proof. Ultimately, where you come from has never mattered nearly as much as what you actively choose to do with what you have been given.
He offered:
“My advice to the next generation, to the young fighters, is to work 10 times harder than you are now. Work 10 times harder than your competition. You have to have the determination to do that in order to be successful.”
