‘He’s The Reason I Fell In Love With Muay Thai’ – Nadaka Honors His Mentor Ahead Of ONE SAMURAI 3
Behind every world-class martial artist stands someone who saw the potential before the rest of the world did. For reigning ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion Nadaka, that visionary figure is Natsuo Nakagawa.
The 25-year-old striking prodigy returns to action in the main event of ONE SAMURAI 3 inside Yokohama Buntai in Yokohama, Japan, this Saturday, September 12. He opens his professional kickboxing journey in an explosive atomweight clash against Myanmar’s Har Ling Om.
Nakagawa, the President, Chairman, and Founder of Eiwa Sports Gym, provided the structure, exposure, and unwavering belief that turned a young boy into Japan’s crown jewel in Muay Thai.
Their bond runs far deeper than a typical coach-fighter relationship, and it is a profound story worth telling ahead of the world’s largest martial arts organization’s third installment of its electric ONE SAMURAI series.
The Gym That Built Nadaka
While karate laid his martial foundation at just four years old, it was Muay Thai that would eventually give Nadaka’s legendary career its true direction.
Before settling into the sport that made his name, the Kanagawa native bounced between disciplines in search of something more intense. He trained briefly at a local gym called Succeed. But there, sessions were held only a few times a week and there was no easy way to supplement his training. This made satisfying his growing hunger for combat very difficult.
Nadaka’s search eventually led him somewhere perfectly suited to his soaring ambitions.
He shared:
“After that, that’s when I was introduced to Eiwa Sports Gym, a place where I could engage in serious kickboxing training every day.
“I started going there when I was eleven. It was when I was in fifth grade. From there, I started fighting a lot more often.”
That pivotal transition did not happen without a guiding hand. Around that same period, Nadaka crossed paths with Natsuo Nakagawa — a fateful meeting that would go on to shape the rest of his career.
The chairman’s decision to bring him into the fold at Eiwa Sports Gym came with expectations far beyond what the young athlete had known up to that point. Training shifted from a casual pursuit into something deeply serious, and that rigorous shift did not sit easily with him right away.
Nadaka recalled:
“At first, though, honestly, it was scary. The training was something new every day; before that, it had always just been a hobby.
“So the idea of fighting all the time was pretty intimidating. I actually didn’t want to go at first, if I’m being honest. But the more I did it, the more fun it became.”
Nakagawa’s Lasting Influence
Nadaka stuck with the grueling regimen despite those early doubts, and that vital decision set the foundation for everything that followed, eventually molding him into Japan’s most decorated Muay Thai superstar.
Much of that remarkable transformation traces directly back to Nakagawa himself, whose influence extended far beyond simply overseeing daily training sessions.
Nadaka explained:
“The reason I felt such a strong desire to explore Muay Thai further and become stronger was partly because Chairman Nakagawa showed me so many things – like the Thailand expedition and plenty of Muay Thai footage – and I found it all really interesting.
“I really don’t think I’d have gone pro without Chairman Nakagawa. He’s the reason I fell in love with Muay Thai as a sport. If he hadn’t been around, I’d probably have just kept doing regular kickboxing and never gone pro.”
Nakagawa’s impact expanded past his own direct mentorship.
The coaching setup the Chairman built gave the Japanese warrior access to genuine Thai expertise. Nadaka trained under Khundong Por Thawatchai and, at one point, even multi-time Muay Thai World Champion Pakorn PK Sialaytentmungkorn, who now competes under the ONE banner himself.
Nadaka pointed to that immersive setup when explaining exactly how his full shift toward “the art of eight limbs” crystallized:
“I was already familiar with the sport itself – I used to watch fighters like Buakaw who competed in K-1. But there was also [Khundong] at Eiwa Sports Gym – he’s the trainer who’s always held the pads for me.
“His presence was a factor, and then Chairman Nakagawa suggested I go to Thailand, the sport’s home, to fight. I’m always one to get scared in situations like that, but I went to Thailand anyway and got the chance to compete.”
Carrying The Torch For Eiwa Sports Gym
That ambitious trip to Thailand marked the true beginning of Nadaka’s meteoric rise. Though Muay Thai is one of the hardest sports in the world, what followed was a decade of dominance rarely matched by any non-Thai athlete in history.
Highlighted by ten Muay Thai World Titles across multiple weight divisions and an exceptional Rajadamnern and Lumpinee Stadium double at 105 pounds, that supremacy reflects a 67-6 career in which he has not lost since July 2019. It is a stunning streak that now stands at 41 consecutive victories and counting.
Even amid all that shimmering success, he has always pointed to the matchups themselves, and the growth they revealed, as the clearest measure of his progression.
Nadaka said:
“The biggest visible sign of growth was just winning fights – the results themselves, such as beating an opponent I hadn’t been able to defeat before. Things like that make a huge difference. That was a period where I could really feel myself getting stronger.”
Now, the ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion carries Nakagawa’s bold vision into ONE SAMURAI 3, though he will not be doing so alone.
Two other elite products of the gym also feature on the card, serving as a testament to just how deep the chairman’s influence runs across Japanese Muay Thai on the global stage.
His cousin, Shimon Yoshinari, faces Suablack Tor Pran49 in a highly anticipated flyweight Muay Thai tilt. Also on the card is Ryuya Okuwaki, who shared a storied four-fight amateur kickboxing rivalry with Nadaka before joining Eiwa Sports Gym.
The 26-year-old takes on Chokdee Maxjandee in an explosive atomweight Muay Thai clash, where he will look to make it four wins in succession.
Combined, this formidable trio of Japanese stars remains unbeaten in the world’s largest martial arts organization. It is a remarkable collective record that speaks volumes to the rock-solid foundation the Chairman built long before any of them competed under the bright lights.
As such, Saturday night in Yokohama will be about far more than Nadaka’s first step toward becoming a two-sport ONE World Champion.
ONE SAMURAI 3 will stand as a spectacular showcase of everything Nakagawa has built at Eiwa Sports Gym — one fighter and one lesson at a time.
