The DEEP Jewels Featherweight World Champion described her ONE Championship return at the biggest martial arts event in history inside the Ryogoku Kokugikan as an opportunity she never expected.
“It is amazing because I knew that a lot of Japanese fighters want to fight on that event, and I was assuming that I might not have the chance to fight this time because there are so many good fighters from Japan,” the 36-year-old said.
“There are also so many superstars on that card, but when I heard that my fight was on that event, I was so excited. I’m happy I can fight in front of the Japanese fans again.”
The hometown hero faces Huang in a rematch of their June 2017 encounter at ONE: LIGHT OF A NATION in Myanmar.
In their first battle, the Riki Gym standout put on a commanding performance as she submitted the Chinese warrior at the 4:00 mark of the second round.
“My strategy was to take her down, take her back and choke her out,” Yamaguchi said. “I was able to do what I needed to do in that cage. That was a good performance.”
Though much has changed since that meeting, “V.V” will be very cautious of any tricks Huang might have up her sleeve.
Yamaguchi is on a four-match win streak, and Huang has been on the losing end in her past four outings.
“I was okay with this choice,” the Japanese athlete said. “I think ONE Championship is telling me that I need to win this and I have to show the impact of how strong I am. That’s the mission for me this time.”
However, Yamaguchi knows she cannot leave the Circle in Tokyo with a decision. A dominant finish would give her the chance to plot her way toward the ONE Atomweight World Title.
“This win can’t be normal. It has to be very aggressive. It has to have an [big] impact so I can say I’m the challenger for the World Title,” she stressed.
“I need to finish her.”
ONE: CENTURY is the biggest World Championship martial arts event in history with 28 World Champions featured across various martial arts. No organization in history has ever promoted two full-scale World Championship events on the same day.
The Home Of Martial Arts will break new ground as it brings multiple World Title bouts, a trio of World Grand Prix Championship Finals, and several World Champion versus World Champion matches to the famous Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan on 13 October.
Catch all the action of CENTURY PART I at 8:00am Malaysia Time (MYT) on Sunday, 13 October. The main card starts at 11:00am MYT.