Mei Yamaguchi will lead the Japanese charge in Malaysia next week.
Yamaguchi, who pressed undisputed Women’s atomweight champion Angela Lee to five rounds in Singapore last May, is one of three Japanese competitors who will seek victories on the ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS card at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on 7 December.
Yamaguchi joins Daichi Takenaka and Yuki Niimura on the blockbuster card, headlined by the ONE Super Series Muay Thai clash between Thailand’s Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex and Australian Luis Regis.
Yamaguchi, who returns to the cage for the first time since her second career defeat to Lee, bids to bounce back to the winner’s list with a win over Filipino Jomary Torres. Torres is 4-1 in mixed martial arts.
She is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Indonesia’s Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol at ONE: CONQUEST OF HEROES in Jakarta in September. Prior to that, Torres was riding a four-match win streak.
Takenaka is placed the highest on the ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS card, following the co-main event between Malaysia’s Agilan Thani and Kyrgyzstan’s Kiamrian Abbasov.
Takenaka will take on South Korea’s Kevin “Oldboy” Chung in a bantamweight battle.
Takenaka, who hails from Osaka, is unbeaten in his professional career. With 11 wins and a tie since making his debut in June, 2012, the 28-year-old is in the form of his life.
Although Takenaka will be keen to showcase his skills once more, having collected a controversial win at ONE: QUEST FOR GOLD in Yangon back in February when South Korean Dae Hwan Kim was disqualified for an illegal spike.
Takenaka’s opponent Chung is 5-1 in mixed martial arts but lost his last outing to current ONE Bantamweight World Champion Kevin Belingon.
Following in Yamaguchi’s footsteps into Axiata Arena will be Niimura.
Niimura takes on powerful Russian Vitaly Bigdash in a middleweight showpiece. The 36-year-old Saitama native aims to secure his fourth-straight victory. But it will be no easy task, taking on Bigdash, who boasts the big scalp of ONE Middleweight and Lightweight World Champion Aung La N Sang.
But Bigdash’s past two encounters haven’t been fruitful, losing to Aung La N Sang in the rematch in June last year and then to Brazil’s Leandro Ataides in May.
