At ONE 172, we are going to see one of many greatest fights of this era when 3 division Okay-1 champion Takeru Segawa faces off in opposition to the most important Muay Thai star of this era, Rodtang. In a basic battle of Muay Thai vs. Kickboxing in Japan of the Rising Solar, this isn’t simply the most important battle in latest Kickboxing and Muay Thai historical past, however the greatest battle within the historical past of ONE Championship.
Headlining an extremely stacked card with this bout being closely targeted on ONE’s kickboxing expertise, which is a breath of freshness as for the previous 12 months, ONE has focused on its Muay Thai far an excessive amount of for MMA and kickboxing followers. A lot of ONE’s skills are leaving on Bitter phrases, similar to Reinier De Ridder for MMA and Chingiz Allazov. Particularly within the early 2020s, when ONE had an unimaginable steady of expertise throughout all fight sports activities. Particularly with their unimaginable Kickboxing Grand Prix tournaments
Now, issues have modified in 2025. ONE 171 was a unbelievable MMA focus card, and now we get one of the crucial anticipated match-ups of the last decade in Rodtang vs. Takeru. That is in Japan, the place Kickboxing remains to be fairly standard, together with lots of the high Japanese kickboxers on the earth, similar to Masaaki Noiri and Hiroki Akimoto. They are going to face off in opposition to Thailand’s best, similar to Sam-A, Prajanchai, and Tawanchai.
Nevertheless, that’s simply the undercard. The primary occasion between the 2 greatest stars in Muay Thai and Kickboxing is simply too intriguing to overlook. Each are motion stars, and each have fallen to related fates. Takeru and Rodtang misplaced one of the best of their era, Superlek, the two-division and two-sport champion, and the prodigious Tenshin Nasukawa, who was gifted sufficient to transition to boxing and turn into a top-ranked fighter in a very new sport.
On high of that, this battle has been anticipated for over a 12 months, as these two had been initially set to face off at ONE 165. Rodtang needed to pull out on account of an damage and was changed by Superlek.
Since Takeru’s loss to Superlek, he has rebounded with a sensational win in opposition to Thant Zin. Rodtang has a strong kickboxing wing in opposition to Bosnian Muay Thai slugger Denis Puric earlier than dropping his flyweight Muay Thai title on the size in his rematch in opposition to Jacob Smith. So, each fighters have constructed their confidence in preparation for this battle.
Takeru vs. Rodtang is the following step in Kickboxing’s future.
This battle between the 2 stars will seemingly determine the way forward for not simply ONE however of all Kickboxing in Muay Thai usually, as this battle supersedes world titles. Additionally, as a result of each of those males are nonetheless youthful fighters, this is a wonderful displaying of the best custom in Muay Thai and Kickboxing. The perfect preventing one of the best, and issues are actually even being forgotten on the earth of MMA. Nevertheless, at ONE 172, Kickboxing and Muay Thai will show why they’re the best fight sports activities on the earth with probably the most brave stars.
