ONE Championship Superstars Celebrate Star Wars Day

Rika Ishige SGDC1181

Today marks one of the most celebrated occasions of the year – Star Wars Day.

Celebrated annually on 4 May, Star Wars has become a pop culture staple due to its iconic storylines, epic lightsaber fights, and lovable cast of characters.

The sci-fi franchise has been going strong for the past three decades, and it is showing no signs of slowing down, either. There have been a dozen intergalactic movies to date, with another on the way, and The Mandalorian television series has been a smash hitty-hit (Baby Yoda, anyone?).

There is no doubt the force is strong with the ONE Championship martial arts heroes, many of whom are Star Wars fans. Now, on “May the Fourth,” they talk about the impact the film series has played in their lives and reveal some of their favorite characters.

Yushin Okami

Japanese mixed martial arts legend Yushin Okami

“The history of the Skywalkers is fantastic! I was attracted by the characters’ growth stories as a man. For me, Yoda is one of my grandmasters.

“My favorite characters are Han Solo because he is strong, kind, and popular among women, and Anakin Skywalker because he connects his feeling with his son in the end. I also have a son, so I cannot help but empathize with him.

“He has both a dark side and light side, and I can see his character is very human. I cannot stop connecting with him.”

Rika Ishige

“It’s old, but modern. When they made the first episodes, they used state-of-the-art technology at that time and developed it more and more until the present version.

Star Wars always improved its production with technology. Every time I watched each episode, I became really attached to their world.

“Also, I like Luke Skywalker. He is gray – not real good and also not bad. I think with his character traits, people easily fall in love with him. He is human and real.”

Egi Rozten

Indonesian mixed martial artist Egi Rozten

“I started to follow Star Wars when I was in middle school. For me, it’s interesting because of the advanced technology shown in the movie. Also, I like science fiction, and there are various extraterrestrial beings featured throughout the franchise.

“It’s a very long story, but at the end of the day, it is all about the eternal fight between the bad side and the good side in the universe.

“I think what we could learn from the story is we should remain optimistic, regardless of anything. The Resistance, for instance, was outnumbered during a war, but Princess Leia Organa managed to instill optimism in her army to defeat the bad guys.

“I like Rey because of her confidence. She knew her task to help The Resistance was daunting, but she did not stop anyway. I think there were times in life when we were not confident about our own ability, so she was like a reminder that we should not give up.”



Shannon Wiratchai

“I like the Jedi. They look cool, smart, and curious. They help to protect the world. Each of them is powerful and have unique abilities, which wows me. I was very impacted by this movie when I was young. The fighting scenes of the Jedi are linked to the martial arts mindset.

“I really like Boba Fett. When I was young, his suit was very cool to me. He is a hero who is freed himself, and he was not under the control of anyone. He is in the middle, not choosing a side. He can adjust and know how to live.

“It seems like me and mixed martial arts. I learn a lot of martial arts – and I can use the strong part of each of them and adjust it to my own style.”

Victor Pinto

Victor Pinto enters the arena

“The good thing about Star Wars is that nothing is real. I have been a big, big fan from an early age, but there’s always something new about a character you don’t know, and that’s probably what makes it so interesting.

“The character I prefer in Star Wars is the Anakin version just before he became Darth Vader in Revenge Of The Sith. You can see the evolution of the character because of all the bad stuff that affected him, but in later episodes, you can see that he still has some good in him even though he turned to the dark side.

“Also, I think Hayden Christensen did an amazing acting job at showing his anger. He is definitely my best bad guy!”

Aziz Calim

Aziz Calim defeats Adi Paryanto via rear-naked choke at ONE: ETERNAL GLORY

“Like a lot of people, I like Star Wars, too.

“Stories about intergalactic space and sci-fi are good, as it challenges our imagination. It triggers us to explore. It’s one genre that I like, though there are other genres that top my list as well. 

“I like Darth Vader. He is not the good guy, I know, but there is something that I like about him. His costume is great, and he has a cool double-bladed lightsaber. What I like the most are his skills when he is fighting. It’s really good.”

Tatsumitsu Wada

DEEP Flyweight World Champion Tatsumitsu "The Sweeper" Wada heads to the Circle in January 2020

“I love Star Wars. I started watching the series based on the recommendation of my friends when I was in high school. The structure of the first movie, starting with the fourth episode, is so cool.

“I like Han Solo and Chewbacca, because my dog looks like Chewbacca.”

Read more: The Best Of Humanity

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