The important thing is to keep training and improving - Tatsumitsu Wada slowly climbing up the rankings after win at Only the Brave

Tatsumitsu Wada came off a dominant victory over Wang Shuo at ONE: Only the Brave, and finally strung back-to-back wins for the first time since 2018.

His victory also snapped a five-fight win streak for the Chinese star and notched an amazing win number 24 in his professional MMA career.

During the post-fight interview, Wada was asked how he feels about finally gaining momentum, to which he answered:

“Currently I’m getting the results so I’m satisfied by that but to be honest, besides the loss against DJ [Demetrious Johnson], though it’s officially a loss for me, I don’t think it’s a loss. The important thing right now for me is to keep on training and improve my skills and level up.”

‘The Sweeper’ faced Demetrious Johnson in the first round of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix back in August 2019’s ONE: Dawn of Heroes, where he pushed the MMA legend to the limit, but ultimately failed to win on the judges’ scorecards.

While he would win his next bout, he lost another razor-tight split decision against Yodkaikaew Fairtex in December 2020’s ONE: Collision Course. In 2021, Tatsumitsu Wada headlined Shooto’s Road to ONE: Sexyama Edition, where he defeated Daichi Takenaka via split decision.

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What’s next for Tatsumitsu Wada?

Tatsumitsu Wada may not be breaking into the top five of the stacked flyweight division just yet, but he certainly made a statement with his win.

When asked if he would want to try and get that win back against Johnson, he had this to say:

“To be honest, I don’t feel like fighting DJ immediately. If I keep on winning, I may have a chance to fight him, but if I fight him right now I don’t think I can win. I want to focus more on training and improving my skills, and then face DJ again in the future.”

The other man who handed him his loss, Yodkaikaew Fairtex, may also be someone he could get revenge over, but Wada says that ship has already sailed.

“If I was to get an immediate rematch against Fairtex I would have done it, but I’m not interested with him anymore. I’ll just fight who I get next.”

While he has no specific opponent in mind for his next bout, the one thing that’s certain for Wada is that he wants to remain active in the next few months:

“I don’t really have a plan for this year but now that the ONE show is happening occasionally, right now I just thought that maybe I could do at least 3 bouts this year, that would be great.”