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After coming up short in his ONE Championship debut, Japanese legend Takeru Segawa is back in the gym and improving his skills in anticipation of a return to the ring.
‘The Natural Born Crusher’ made his first appearance with the promotion at ONE 165 in Tokyo, Japan, taking on reigning ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9. After five rounds of entertaining back-and-forth action, ‘The Kicking Machine’ was announced as the victor.
It was a disappointing result for Takeru, but the former three-division K-1 Kickboxing world champion has no intentions of hanging his head in shame. Instead, he’s already putting in work to ensure a more favorable result in his sophomore appearance under the ONE Championship banner.
“Today, I'm with boxing trainer Katsuaki Susa,” Takeru wrote in a translated post on Instagram. “I'm glad I came to teach! @katsuakisusa fix my weak parts so I can grow again. Thank you!”
For those unfamiliar, Katsuaki Susa is a Japanese boxer who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He also won bronze medals at the 2006 and 2010 Asian Games
‘The Iron Man’ Rodtang is up next for Takeru Segawa
After suffering a rather nasty leg injury against Superlek in their ONE 165 showdown, there is no confirmed timetable for Takeru’s return to the ring. Recently, ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed that details regarding the promotion’s next event in Japan will be unveiled soon — an event he hopes Takeru can be a part of.
As for who ‘The Natural Born Crusher’ could potentially fight. The answer appeared to be pretty clear for Sityodtong.
“Rodtang versus Takeru is going to happen, they both want it, they're both elite best-of-the-best strikers on the planet who like to bang, and somebody is going to get knocked out, and they want it, so definitely," he told Sportskeeda MMA.
If you missed any of the action or want to relive an epic night in ONE Championship history, the ONE 165 replay can be watched on demand via watch.onefc.com.
