Yuya Wakamatsu

Yuya Wakamatsu profile

Yuya Wakamatsu spent seven years in ONE Championship before he won the flyweight world title, then held it for about thirteen months. Born in Satsumasendai, Japan on 9 February 1995, he is 21-7 as a professional with fifteen knockouts.

Fighting as discipline

He was an aggressive child who picked fights in his neighbourhood, and took up martial arts to burn off the energy and learn some discipline. He started with boxing as a teenager and added the rest after watching ONE Championship.

He moved to Tokyo at eighteen, turned professional two years later, lost his debut by submission, then won nine in a row — eight of them by knockout — and took the Pancrase Neo Blood flyweight tournament in 2016.

Seven years in the promotion

He lost his ONE debut to Danny Kingad in September 2018, then lost to Demetrious Johnson by guillotine in the 2019 Flyweight World Grand Prix quarter-finals. It took another six years of climbing to reach a title fight.

Champion, and then not

On 23 March 2025 at ONE 172 in Saitama he stopped Brazilian former champion Adriano Moraes in round one for the vacant flyweight world title, and took a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus in front of a home crowd.

He defended it at ONE 173 in Tokyo on 16 November 2025, finishing Joshua Pacio with knees 54 seconds into round two for a second bonus in a row — the same card on which Superbon unified the featherweight kickboxing belts against Masaaki Noiri.

On 29 April 2026 at ONE Samurai 1 he lost the title to Uzbekistan's Avazbek Kholmirzaev, knocked out by a spinning back elbow in round two. The reign lasted about thirteen months and one defence, after seven years of chasing it.

Back to work

On 12 September 2026 at ONE Samurai 3 in Yokohama he beat South Africa's Willie van Rooyen when the doctor stopped it in round two. He is 11-5 in the promotion with six finishes, and 21-7 overall with fifteen knockouts.

Record

Scope: ONE Championship · last verified 5 October 2026