Yoshihiro Akiyama Reveals Plans of a ONE Championship Return After ONE Fight Night 8 Conclusion

Most ONE Championship viewers will definitely be familiar with the name Yoshihiro Akiyama. The 48-year-old Korean-Japanese is also a Netflix star and has fought across multiple fight promotions across the world, including the UFC. ‘Sexyama’ was also spotted among the audiences at ONE Fight Night 8 as well. The ‘Physical: 100’ star also received a huge pop from the crowd as he was shown on the giant screen at the event.

The 48-year-old also revealed that he was planning to make a return. Akiyama wasn’t too bothered about his age, at which most fighters already give up competing. He also had a meeting with the ONE Boss, Chatri Sityodtong, where he reportedly negotiated his comeback. Further, the Korean-Japanese took to social media and put a snap of his ONE Fight Night 8 venture on his Instagram account as well.

Age was just a number for Yoshihiro Akiyama

As previously stated, ‘Sexyama’ was fine with competing inside the circle even at the age of 48 years. Akiyama was also mobbed by multiple press outlets post the ONE Fight Night 8 event. There, he talked about his nonchalant mentality of taking the circle once again, even at 48.

‘Sexyama’ stated, “I will keep doing my best. Age is just a number! Let’s go!”. His next words also revealed that he stll had the dreams of a world title win. Sexyama stated, “Chatri told me to become ONE world champion. I’m positive I’m going to see the view from the top of the world.” 

Later, he also uploaded an Instagram snap from his meetup with the ONE Championship boss. Akiyama’s caption bore a lot of resemblance to the words he spoke to the media.

‘South China Morning Post’ also caught up with ‘Sexyama’, post the ONE Fight Night 8 where he talked about quite a few issues. He reiterated his opinion to continue fighting. stating, “I’m 48 now and I want to compete at least until the age of 50”.

He also said, “I want to tell everyone that even though they are getting older, you can still do it. I really wanted to compete in the final, but I think I have given courage to people in their 40s and 50s all over the world.”

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Akiyama also gave out a few points about his probable return, stating, “I think I want to fight once this year, but I guess there may be an event in South Korea so I’m going to focus on that.”

Chatri Sityodtong also shared Yoshihiro Akiyama’s vision regarding his return

It’s evident that the ONE boss, Chatri Sityodtong was quite pleased to know about Akiyama’s decision of making a return. An immensely popular figure like Akiyama would possibly generate a lot more viewership for ONE. Sityodatong was also interviewed by ‘The Post’ where he confirmed ‘Sexyama’s’ words about his return.

He stated, “Yes, he wants to fight again for sure, he’s ready to go. We were talking about potential opponents today, so there are big plans”. The ONE Championship supremo further affirmed Akiyama’s words as he revealed, “I still want to do a Korea event. I can tell you that if a few of our big discussions going on right now are conclusive, then we will throw a big Korea event. But it’s definitely in the plans.”

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With Sityodtong and Akiyama singing a similar tune, ONE Championship fans can definitely expect that their meeting will yield something eventful. Do you also want to see ‘Sexyama’ taking the circle yet again?