Hiroki Akimoto will return to action in front of his home fans when he meets 20-year-old Taimu Hisai in a bantamweight kickboxing clash at ONE SAMURAI 1 on Wednesday, April 29, broadcasting live from Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
The addition completes the card for ONE’s inaugural monthly event in Japan.
Akimoto carries a 28-4 professional record and an 8-4 mark inside ONE into this homecoming appearance. The Power of Dream fighter is a Kyokushin Karate specialist. His explosive combination work has been his calling card throughout a career that reached its peak at ONE X.
There, he defeated Capitan Petchyindee to become Japan’s first-ever ONE Kickboxing World Champion. He lost the belt in his next outing and absorbing two further defeats. But Akimoto has rebuilt with back-to-back wins over John Lineker and Wei Rui heading into this assignment.
Standing across from him is a 20-year-old with eyes on making an immediate name for himself on the global stage. Hisai trains at Team Taimu, carries a 20-6 professional record, and scored a winning ONE debut against Zhang Jingtao.
A victory over a former divisional champion in just his second appearance would put the rest of the bantamweight kickboxing division on notice.
ONE SAMURAI 1 full card
ONE SAMURAI 1 features four ONE World Title fights headlined by one of the most anticipated rematches in recent ONE history. The full card is as follows:
• Rodtang Jitmuangnon vs. Takeru Segawa (ONE Interim Flyweight Kickboxing World Championship)
• Yuya Wakamatsu vs. Avazbek Kholmirzaev (ONE Flyweight MMA World Championship)
• Nadaka vs. Songchainoi Kiatsongrit (ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Championship)
• Jonathan Haggerty vs. Yuki Yoza (ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Championship)
• Marat Grigorian vs. Kaito (kickboxing – featherweight)
• Ayaka Miura vs. Chihiro Sawada (MMA – atomweight)
• Hiroki Akimoto vs. Taimu Hisai (kickboxing – bantamweight)
• Hiromi Wajima vs. Ricardo Bravo (kickboxing – featherweight)
• Itsuki Hirata vs. Ritu Phogat (MMA – atomweight)
• Tatsumitsu Wada vs. Seiichiro Ito (MMA – flyweight)
• Keito Yamakita vs. Ryohei Kurosawa (MMA – strawweight)
• Shimon Yoshinari vs. Johan Ghazali (Muay Thai – flyweight)
• Toma Kuroda vs. Toki Tamaru (kickboxing – atomweight)
• Hyu vs. Taiki Naito (kickboxing – flyweight)
• Kanata Nagai vs. Atsuya Kambe (MMA – bantamweight)
