ONE Championship has signed a host of high profile free agents over the last few months, such as former UFC champions Demetrious Johnson, Eddie Alvarez and Vitor Belfort, former UFC stars Sage Northcutt, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Yushin Okami, Muay Thai star Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex, and kickboxing ace Nieky Holzken.
Speaking at the ONE: A New Era post-fight press conference on Sunday, ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong promised the free agent signings will continue. One possible future ONE signing, he claimed, is kickboxing star Tenshin Nasukawa, who was cage-side for the event.
Sityodtong suggested that Nasukawa could potentially join ONE to rematch Muay Thai action fighter Rodtang Jitmuangnon, who was victorious on the ONE: A New Era undercard. Nasukawa and Rodtang engaged in a razor close battle at RISE 125 in 2018.
“Tenshin was in the audience in the first row, and he has definitely expressed his opinion – privately and publicly – that he would like to join ONE Championship,” Sityodtong said (transcript via onefc.com).
“He does want to face Rodtang again, so I’m very excited to hold that fight in the future.”
Given that Tenshin Nasukawa already trains at Sityodtong’s EVOLVE MMA in Singapore, it’s long been suggested he could soon make the move from RIZIN to ONE Championship.
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 4/2/2019.