Masaaki Noiri has been thinking about alternating wins and losses since the moment he arrived in ONE Championship. Two steps forward, one step back, repeat. He has identified it, named it, and is done with it.

The former ONE Interim Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion enters the ONE SAMURAI Featherweight Kickboxing Tournament at ONE SAMURAI 2 on Saturday, August 8, at Ebara Wave Arena Ota in Tokyo, Japan. The winner earns a guaranteed shot at ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion Superbon. His quarter-final opponent is “Spirit Dragon” Liu Mengyang, the man who handed him a decision loss at ONE Friday Fights 92 in December 2024.

The losses Noiri has absorbed in ONE Championship have been at the highest possible level, and none has arrived without a precise lesson attached. His most recent defeat, a competitive unanimous decision to Superbon in their title unification bout at ONE 173 last November, came after a career peak that saw him knock out ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Champion Tawanchai PK Saenchai in the third round at ONE 172 to claim the interim kickboxing belt. That trajectory, spectacular rise then setback, is the pattern he has decided to end.

“Since I started competing in ONE, it’s been a string of alternating wins and losses,” Noiri said. “But I am not going to lose anymore, so please expect great things from me.”

The Superbon loss came down to a specific technical gap he has since addressed. Noiri’s self-diagnosis is characteristically exact.

“I wasn’t fully securing enough points round by round,” he said. “I am also reflecting on the fact that I wasn’t able to completely break him down, and I want to apply these lessons to my next fight.”

The response to that defeat has not been a dramatic overhaul. He trusts his foundation at Team Vasileus and has returned to what produced the Tawanchai knockout, applying surgical corrections rather than wholesale changes.

“Nothing in particular has changed. I resumed my training right away, and I have just been training as usual,” he said.

Takeru Segawa’s retirement after his extraordinary ONE SAMURAI 1 win over Rodtang Jitmuangnon in April has added a dimension to Noiri’s motivation that goes beyond his own record. The two have shared space in the broader Japanese martial arts conversation for years, and Takeru’s departure has left a vacancy in terms of who carries the sport’s identity in Japan on the global stage.

“I was simply moved by Takeru’s performance,” Noiri said. “With Takeru now retired, I feel that I must become the fighter to shoulder the responsibility in his place.”

Liu has evolved considerably since their first meeting. A 52-second calf kick knockout of Tawanchai at ONE Friday Fights 137, followed by a dominant performance over Gabriel Pereira at The Inner Circle, have made him one of the most dangerous featherweights in the world. Noiri respects the growth. He has also spotted something in Liu’s emotional tendencies under pressure that he plans to use.

“He has experienced a defeat once, and he has continued to grow since that fight. I think he is a good fighter,” Noiri said. “But he tends to get too emotional when he fights.”

The path back to Superbon runs through Liu, and through whoever survives the other half of the bracket. Noiri has earned the right to be here, knows the cost of falling short again, and arrives at ONE SAMURAI 2 with the clearest purpose of his promotional career.

“It is a great opportunity for me,” he said. “Because I fell short of expectations last time, I believe this is an opportunity to redeem myself.”

READ MORE: Ben Woolliss Faces Yuki Yoza In Career-Defining Bantamweight Kickboxing Clash At The Inner Circle 22

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