Itsuki Hirata in New York training at Matt Serra’s BJJ academy ahead of ONE 161 fight

Japanese women’s MMA sensation ‘Android 18’ Itsuki Hirata seemed to be mixing business with pleasure during her recent visit to New York City. It looks like the Japanese rising star reached out to Matt Serra’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy to possibly put in some work while she’s there.

‘Android 18', as she’s nicknamed, shared an Instagram photo of herself in front of the large ‘Team Serra’ logo in the background, which aroused an immense following from her western fans.

Check out her post below:

ONE Championship recently announced an MMA atomweight bout between Itsuki Hirata and Lin Heqin on the ONE 161 card, which will be aired at U.S. primetime on Friday, August 26 via Amazon Prime Video.

This fight will make for an intriguing showdown as the pair will have the opportunity to put their full skills on display for a western audience who may not yet be familiar with their star quality personalities.

While most fans were anticipating an explosive rematch between Hirata and most recent foe Jihin ‘Shadow Cat’ Radzuan, whom Hirata lost to via a narrow split-decision, a matchup with Lin is no less a competitive feat for the Japanese judoka.

With a height and reach advantage, the Chinese Sanda-type fighter is a difficult woman to beat. Lin is amazingly entering her third bout of the year, with two consecutive wins in kickboxing and MMA against Milagros Lopez and Bi Nguyen.

Itsuki Hirata, meanwhile, is looking to rebound from her recent loss to get back into the win column. Working with her team at home in Japan, the atomweight phenom will utilize her grappling skills to close the distance and look for the finish.

This fight is going to be an absolute banger!

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Learning from her loss, Itsuki Hirata vows to return stronger than ever before

Losses are inevitable in sports and in life. The key to success is to learn from them in order to get stronger. Itsuki Hirata vowed to return to the circle stronger than she ever did before after her only loss against Jihin Radzuan at ONE X.

Nothing went according to plan for the Japanese superstar. Hirata’s submission game often backfired when she grappled with Radzuan on the ground. Suffice to say, ‘Shadow Cat’ was the superior grappler that night.

The Japanese fighter is looking to make a fresh new start. She shared a post with fans on Instagram to convey a powerful and inspirational message.

"Thank you for your support‼︎ I'm sorry. Everything showed my weakness. The content and results are everything. I'm so frustrated and angry with myself! They supported us. They supported us. Thank you to all the sponsors, teammates, family and fans. I will definitely come back. Thank you very much. This is the best performance. Thank you all for your message. I'm only going to be strong."