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Former multi-division K-1 world champion ‘The Natural Born Crusher’ Takeru Segawa had big hopes and dreams for his ONE Championship debut last weekend in his own hometown of Tokyo. Unfortunately for the 32-year-old kickboxing veteran, things didn’t exactly go as planned.
Takeru challenged reigning and undisputed ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion ‘The Kicking Machine’ Superlek Kiatmoo9 for the coveted ONE Championship gold at ONE 165, but ultimately fell short of victory on the judges’ scorecards following a harrowing five-round war.
ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru was held at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, January 28th, and was broadcast live globally on pay-per-view via watch.onefc.com.
An emotional Takeru took the microphone immediately after the match concluded, confetti from Superlek’s epic in-ring celebration still stuck to his skin. He told veteran ONE Championship broadcast analyst Mitch ‘The Dragon’ Chilson:
“A lot of people here in Japan have suffered a lot and I wanted to get this victory to give power to everyone, to help them get through those hard times. But this is as far as I can go. I don’t know if I can do any more than this. But I really want to thank everyone in attendance and everyone for their support. Thank you for your support.”
Of course, Takeru put forth a valiant effort. But Superlek was simply better on the night. It wouldn’t come as a surprise to see the two run it back sometime in the future.
Takeru takes to Instagram to continue to thank his fans for their unwavering support
Ever as honorable, Japanese kickboxing icon ‘The Natural Born Crusher’ Takeru Segawa took to his personal Instagram account to further thank his fans.
He wrote:
“Everyone who supported me, I'm really thankful to you. I'm sorry that I couldn't show you how to win. But I've done everything I could these past few months. Everyone who gathered at the venue and everyone who watched on PPV, everyone who was involved in this tournament, I'm really thankful to you.”
Check out the Instagram post here:
