Hiroki Akimoto looking forward to the clash of styles against Wei Rui: “The exchanges should be interesting to watch”

Former ONE bantamweight kickboxing world champion Hiroki Akimoto will make his return to action at ONE Fight Night 22 on May 3. Against him will be one of China's greatest kickboxing exports, Wei Rui, who will be making his promotional debut.

Akimoto hasn't been in the ring since losing his belt to Petchtanong Petchfergus at ONE 163 over a year ago. To face a caliber of fighter in Wei is a valiant move for the Japanese, as the Chinese fighter is currently on a 20-fight winning streak.

Still, the Japanese former world champion is confident he can get the job done - even providing some insight on how the fight might go down, telling ONE Championship:

“Since my opponent is skilled with both kicks and punches, I think it will be more of a long-range fight. The exchanges at that range should be interesting to watch.”

If Akimoto says that the bout will be interesting to watch, we bet our money that it will be more than that. May 3rd can't come any sooner.

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Hiroki Akimoto unbothered by Wei Rui's K-1 and KLF world titles

As mentioned, Wei is one of China's greatest combat sports exports, becoming the country's first-ever K-1 world champion in 2017. While Hiroki Akimoto recognized his opponent's credentials, he reiterated that he was not worried about them at the very least.

Akimoto told ONE Championship:

“All the fighters in ONE have won titles so I’m not really conscious of the fact that he’s a former K-1 World Champion."

Akimoto continued:

“I just see him as another fighter who has strengths but also areas that can be exploited, so I’ll just prepare as I always do.”

ONE Fight Night 22 will air live on US Primetime on May 3 free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.