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After suffering a nasty leg injury in his ONE Championship debut, Japanese kickboxing legend Takeru Segawa is beginning to look like his old self.
Signing with the promotion in 2023, 'The Natural Born Crusher' made his long-awaited debut at ONE 165 inside Tokyo's Ariake Arena. There, he challenged reigning and defending ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9.
Through five entertaining rounds, both warriors gave everything they had in pursuit of a victory. In the end, it was 'The Kicking Machine' who would come out on top.
Living up to his moniker, Superlek punished Takeru's lead leg for 15 minutes, slowing down the former K-1 Kickboxing three-division champion and walking away with a unanimous decision win.
Takeru later revealed that he had suffered a broken knee in the opening round:
"My knee was broken in two places," he wrote on Instagram. "When I cut the low kick in the 1st round, I felt like my knee was going to break."
Since then, the kickboxing icon has been working hard to recover and, per a recent post on social media, is beginning to look like the Takeru of old.
Superlek reaps the benefits of his smashing victory over Takeru
Knowing the danger that Takeru brings to the ring, particularly with his near-lethal combinations, Superlek knew that the best counter would be to take his legs out from under him — a strategy that worked almost too perfectly:
"He has good punch combinations [and] slick movements and that's what I needed to counter," Superlek said in an interview with JSL Global Media. "I tried to hit where he was feeling hurt repeatedly becuase I know he has really dangerous hands."
As a result of his victory, Superlek will have the opportunity to become a two-sport ONE world champion when he challenges current ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world titleholder Jonathan Haggerty.
'The Kicking Machine' will meet 'The General' when ONE Championship heads to Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, for ONE 168 on Friday, September 6.
