ONE Championship

Beating Willie van Rooyen will not be the finish line for the former ONE Flyweight MMA World Champion. It is simply the opening move.

Yuya Wakamatsu meets South Africa’s Van Rooyen in the co-main event of ONE SAMURAI 3, streaming live from Yokohama Buntai in Yokohama, Japan, this Saturday, September 12.

Van Rooyen brings a stellar 8-1 record and a dynamic, switch-hitting striking arsenal, including a come-from-behind TKO over Jeremy Miado at ONE Fight Night 41 this past March. But it is the South African’s lone defeat that has captured Wakamatsu’s full attention.

Reigning champion Avazbek Kholmirzaev dismantled Van Rooyen in his ONE debut. It’s the same man who stripped Wakamatsu of his belt at ONE SAMURAI 1 in April. Moreover, the winner of Saturday’s clash could find himself directly in line for a rematch with the man who took the title from both of them.

“He’s only got one loss, and that’s the main fight I have to look at,” Wakamatsu said.

“The footage of his face at the exact moment he realizes he’s losing – I use that to build my mental image of breaking him.”

Yuya Wakamatsu eyes a Kholmirzaev rematch down the line

The path back to gold runs directly through Saturday’s bout. And Wakamatsu has restructured his camp entirely around closing it out in dominant fashion.

The 31-year-old plans to unleash chain wrestling and suffocating top pressure against Van Rooyen. Moreover, it’s a deliberate departure from the killer instinct that defined his first title reign. Now he’s in pursuit of a statement that reopens his path to the belt.

“I want to wrap that belt around my waist again, and I’ve decided to push myself to the absolute physical limits of what I can do.

“My goal going forward – first, on September 12th, I’m going to brutally finish Willie Van Rooyen. Whether it’s later this year or next year, I want that rematch and I want to put him out.”

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM