ONE Championship: Rizin's Rukiya Anpo hints at ONE link but Ryan ...
ONE Championship: Rizin’s Rukiya Anpo hints at ONE link but Ryan Garcia a possible diversion
Rukiya Anpo set tongues wagging with an Instagram post yesterday, in which the Rizin star shared a photo of a ONE Championship title along with a caption that read: “One of a kind.”
Anpo is a former super lightweight champion with Japanese professional kickboxing promotion K-1, but his past two fights have taken place on events promoted by Japanese mixed martial arts organisation Rizin.
Last month he faced Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao in an exhibition match that was Anpo’s first taste of the “sweet science”.
Even though the fight was officially scored as a draw, Anpo clearly got the better of the world champion boxer-turned-politician over the three-round fight at Super Rizin 3.
Before that, he was better known for his exploits as a kick-boxer and had been a major star with K-1.
Ringside at Super Rizin 3 was controversial boxer Ryan Garcia. He used to be one of the biggest stars in the sport but his stock fell after failing a drug test earlier this year and he is currently serving a one-year ban.
Garcia has been tipped to fight Pacquiao on a Rizin card, the Japanese promotion seemingly prepared to overlook his drugs ban to make the fight. But the American said his focus had switched to Anpo after seeing him dominate the Filipino.
“I don’t know who he [Anpo] is, but I mentioned his name because he definitely was trying to knock out Manny Pacquiao, and that kind of pissed me off,” Garcia said.
“So now I wanna knock him out.”
It now looks more likely that Anpo will follow in the footsteps of former K-1 champions Takeru, Wei Rui and Masaaki Noiri by joining ONE Championship. It would be something of a coup for Chatri Sityodtong’s outfit, which has been systematically signing up some of the best kick-boxers in the world.
If Anpo does sign he would probably compete in ONE Championship’s featherweight division. It is home to some of the best kick-boxers in the world, such as Superbon Banchamek, Sittichai Sitsongpeenong, Chingiz Allazov and Giorgio Petrosyan, so there would be no shortage of potential opponents for the Japanese fighter.
