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Japanese kickboxing superstar and former three-division K-1 world champion Takeru Segawa recently spoke about his sparring session with the legendary Nong-O Hama ahead of ONE Friday Fights 58.
Nong-O, a former ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion, will fight rising phenom Kulabdam Sor Jor Piek Uthai inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium tonight. He employed the help of Takeru in preparation for his upcoming three-round war.
Takeru's last appearance in the ring was at ONE 165, where he fell short in an early Fight of the Year contender against ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9.
Speaking to ONE Championship, Takeru described what it was like to spar with the former world champion:
“I felt the tremendous power and length in his kicks. He has great distance management. An extremely high-level technical fighter.”
Aside from being the winningest ONE world champion in history with seven straight world title defenses, Nong-O is considered one of the greatest tactical Muay Thai fighters of this generation. His level of technical acuity is unparalleled even by world champions today.
Nong-O stresses the importance of learning traditional Muay Thai techniques and mixing them with new innovations
Seen as an "old school" fighter by young athletes today, the Thai former world champion believes in the importance of fundamental technique and using it as a foundation to expand your game with new styles.
He told Sportsmanor on YouTube:
“I think it’s best to combine [old school and new-gen tactics]. Because training with traditional Muay Thai fighters, you get benefits like the classic techniques. You will learn the traditional ways to do the striking because it will draw out all your weapons. That would be the benefit. But also the sports science and the new-world technology that will allow us to build up strength in your physical health. You get stronger, but it’s still important to learn the techniques. I think a combination of both would be best.”
ONE Friday Fights 58 is available via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.
