ONE Championship’s Friday Fights 109 gave us the promotional debut of Japanese kickboxing powerhouse and former K1 champion Yuki Yoza. At just 27 years old, Yoza has achieved amazing things in combat sports, becoming the youngest-ever Kyokushin Weight World champion at 19. His transition to kickboxing has been dominant and provided endless footage for the highlight reel.
Where this fight was different to the debut fights ONE championship arranged for other migrating Japanese kickboxers is that, unlike Superlek, who fought Takeru at ONE 165, or Sittachai, who welcomed Masaaki Noiri at ONE 167, Yuki Yoza’s opponent Elbrus ‘The Samurai’ Osmanov is not nearly as accomplished or experienced. He is, however, a very impressive prospect, with an (at the time) undefeated record, who had already racked up 6 dominant wins against fighters already signed with the promotion, so he would still help answer whether Yuki Yoza was capable or ready to fight the current level of opposition at ONE. Although I’m sure some would argue how he handled their former champion Petchdam Petchyindee Academy at K1 World MAX last year answered that sufficiently.
Yuki Yoza’s style
Yuki Yoza has freedom with his kick game that goes beyond simply having a traditional martial arts background. He will kick your legs in ten more ways than you have ever kicked a leg before. Outside thigh kicks and calf kicks, inside pendulum kicks, kicks round the side of the leg with the ball of his foot, that same movement but closer so you can hook behind the foot and trip them, stepping snap kicks to the back thigh, teeps to both thighs, kicks under the hamstring using the big toe, the list is seemingly endless. He performs them in combination and with a minimal pattern, complimented with feints and a willingness to bring that shin or knee up to the dome or liver. His timing with these strikes is also important, as he will often attack the legs whilst the opponent is kicking, or when they are checking. Since they are on one leg, attacking the rear leg during this window will do more damage, and could potentially sweep them, although sweeps are not technically legal in kickboxing. I recall one time a few years back, I sparred with an older guy who had been doing kickboxing for many years. He threw an axe kick which I pulled out of range to avoid, and whilst it was in the air he moved slightly off an angle and brought his heel down on the top of my thigh. It made my leg completely dead, and I wasn’t even sure what happened. This is what the average Yuki Yoza opponent must go through every time he faces someone, just this time with the worst intentions on the big stage. He is one of those types of fighters that is impossible to properly prepare for, as they are so fundamentally unorthodox. Very unpredictable in shot selection, regardless of his very predictable game plan.
The Fight
This fight, however, showcased a much simpler skillset from Yuki. Ultra aggressive as always, but he damn near threw the left calf kick for 9 minutes straight, mostly because Osmanov appeared to have never seen the kick before in his life.
Osmanov’s movement was really good in the first round, moving outside that lead leg every time Yuki Yoza threw a body kick, and resetting back towards the center of the ring. Yoza also got caught with a couple of explosive jump-back kicks, but once Yoza started throwing the calf kick, he found it easier and easier to ring cut and back Osmanov into a corner. He would throw it to hit the inside of the left shin if he’s orthodox or the outside of the right if he’s southpaw, with a pretty reckless abandonment of his own leg health, as a lot of these kicks looked shin to shin. He also threw a couple of nice ones breaking out of the clinch.
He was so patient and disciplined, refusing to engage him in any other way, that until the end of the third he barely through anything above the body. The second round felt like watching a Kyokushin match, with both fighters just standing and trading body shots. Osmanov’s only ‘solution’ from here was to step into boxing combinations, for which he would get calf kicked, or he would explode into some variable jumping/spinning attack, to which he would be again calf kicked, and then fall flat on his back. This happened like five times. Whenever he feinted to set up the boxing, went to body kick from far range or threw leg kicks back, he had more success, but by the second round he was hurt so much he would flinch 2–3 times from a step feint.
If calf kicks were not considered a part of the kickboxing meta before, they sure are now.
Japanese Kickboxing in ONE Championship
Takeru and Masaaki Noiri’s mistake at ONE is trucking forward, trying to beat opponents using heavy hitting and forward pressure. This works well in K1 and on the Japanese circuit as any style with its routes in karate, Dutch kickboxing included, tends to be worse at staying safe on the inside. They are good at shelling up and keeping strong in boxing range, and against fighters who thrive off being out of range, this can work well. See either of the fights between Raymond Daniels and Nieky Holzken for reference. However, with the nature of Muay Thai and the clinch, Muay Thai fighters are very used to tying up to avert this pressure and then circling while keeping in range. Even in kickboxing where the clinch is not allowed, they are used to meeting the oncoming fighter almost nose to nose, then moving laterally once they break. This is part of why Noiri found more success against Tawanchai, as he has an unusual Muay Thai style that focuses more on keeping that distance. Marching forward and trying to land big knockout combinations against the ropes is generally a bad tactic against a good Thai fighter.
In this fight, Elbrus Osmanov, although mainly a kickboxer, came out with these same tactics and employed them effectively until he got hurt. This speaks to the effectiveness of a more reserved approach and the success of Team Vasileus’ game planning. This fight’s game plan was almost certainly influenced by what the team has learned through Takeru and Noiri’s other fights in the promotion. Throwing hands when your opponent is hell-bent on kicking can be a good idea, but when the strikes are leads, like calf kicks and teeps, it can be hard to get the punches off and dictate the pace. Allowing your opponent to strike from so far out of range means you have to move in to reach them with boxing and your counters will just be too slow. You need to work your way into boxing in these kinds of fights, especially when the opponent’s timing is as precise as Yuki Yoza’s. It’s easy to say he should have fought lighter on the front foot and worked the kicks more, but that’s not really how he fights. All Osmanov needs to do is get back in there and get more experience. He’s only 23 years old and shows a lot of promise tactically and athletically. He just doesn’t have the experience to deal with someone like Yuki Yoza. He definitely should have started checking though.
Regardless, it’s a very exciting time for Japanese kickboxing. Yuki Yoza has called out almost the entirety of the ONE roster already and says he wants Superlek. Honestly, give him whoever I would like to see any of those matchups. Not Nabil yet though. If he can kick him like this, then the kid might never walk again.
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