Takeru Admits Greatest Fears Before Stopping Rodtang At ONE SAMURAI 1: “Every Day I Was Having Nightmares”
The nightmares were real. Every night in the weeks leading into ONE SAMURAI 1, Takeru Segawa woke up haunted by terrifying visions. The memory of the 80-second finish Rodtang Jitmuangnon had put on him at ONE 172 last March in front of his own country had not faded. If anything, it had grown.
“Every day I was having nightmares about being knocked out, losing consciousness, or breaking my leg,” Takeru said. “I was terrified of disappointing everyone’s expectations.”
He walked into Ariake Arena on April 29 carrying all of it — the fear, the doubt, the weight of what a loss in his final fight would mean — and delivered arguably the greatest performance of his career. A fifth-round TKO of Rodtang gave Takeru the ONE Interim Flyweight Kickboxing World Title and the ending his career deserved.
The fear never fully left him, even as he controlled the first round, even as he dropped Rodtang twice in the second with left hooks, even as the fight descended into an all-out war in the fourth that tested everything he had left. He had made his peace with the consequences before the bell rang.
“My biggest anxiety was whether my body would even hold up enough to stand in the ring,” he said. “It was my last fight. I was prepared to die rather than fall, so I just took the punches.”
That willingness to absorb in order to find the finish, to walk through Rodtang’s left hands and keep hunting, defined every exchange of the contest. Rodtang hurt him. Takeru kept coming. In the fifth, a right hand buckled the Thai’s legs, a left hook followed, and another right sent him to the canvas. When Rodtang tried to rise and the ropes could no longer hold him upright, the referee intervened.
Takeru finished his professional career 46-5, collected a 15 million yen performance bonus, and walked out of Ariake Arena as a ONE World Champion. The relief that followed was as raw as anything that came before it.
“So right now, my overriding feeling is just, ‘I’m glad I came back alive,'” he said.
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