“I had no option but to succeed” – Takeru recalls how martial arts turned his life around after troubled youth

Like many fighters before him, multi-time K-1 world champion Takeru Segawa admits that martial arts turned his life around.

Before becoming one of the best kickboxers on the planet, the Japanese star admittedly was a troubled youth who wasn’t following the straight path.

In a candid interview with ONE Championship, Takeru recalled his early days in school. Turns out, trouble always seemed to find him, until combat sports gave him a new perspective.

‘The Natural Born Crusher’ shared:

“I was expelled from school, and there was nothing left for me to do. During that time, I didn’t do martial arts, and I was just fooling around, but because I couldn’t go to high school, I felt I had no option but to succeed in martial arts, so I made up my mind.”

The rest, as we now know, is history.

Takeru's perseverance and determination allowed him to climb the ranks in the striking circuit. The decorated athlete wants to add a new belt to his trophy case on January 28 in the main event of ONE 165.

Takeru will challenge Superlek for his ONE flyweight kickboxing world title in front of his hometown fans at Ariake Arena.

ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru will air live on Sunday, January 28, via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.

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Takeru considers Rodtang’s withdrawal a "blessing in disguise"

ONE 165 was supposed to be headlined by a clash between two of the most aggressive berserkers in the combat sports scene, Takeru and Rodtang.

A hand injury sustained by ‘The Iron Man’ put a wrench in those plans. Luckily, Superlek came to the rescue and saved the headlining act of ONE’s return to Japan.

While Takeru still wants to test himself against Rodtang one day, he’s grateful to challenge another formidable fighter like Superlek, especially with 26 pounds of gold on the line.

He told ONE in the same interview:

“The fact that the opponent has defeated Rodtang and that I am given the opportunity to have a title match in my ONE debut, I thought there couldn't be anything better.”