Wei Rui made his ONE Championship debut, and it couldn’t have come with a better result. Taking on Japan’s Hiroki Akimoto, who stepped inside the ring after more than a year, China’s kickboxing prodigy proved to be too much for the 31-year-old from Evolve MMA.
Wei Rui debuts with a unanimous decision win over Hiroki Akimoto 🥊
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After the three rounds, Wei Rui picked up a unanimous decision victory, extending his winning streak to 21 and his fight record to 70-3. With the victory, Rui has announced his entry into the division’s rankings. Meanwhile, Akimoto succumbed to his second straight loss, with his last setback coming against Petchtanong Petchfergus back in November 2022.
Hiroki Akimoto didn’t have any answers for Wei Rui’s aggressive style
The former Bantamweight Kickboxing World Champion struggled on the feet against China’s Wei Rui. Barring the last round, where Akimoto had some success, Rui was dominant from start to finish.
However, this begs the question of whether it was the perfect match-up for Akimoto, who has struggled quite a bit in his recent fights. Stepping inside the cage after more than 15 months, one can blame ring rust. However, that didn’t appear to be the case this time around.
Wei Rui, ladies and gentlemen 🫡#ONEFightNight22 pic.twitter.com/89nD3vW8hL
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Speaking to Sportsmanor in an exclusive interview, Hiroki Akimoto revealed he was quite pleased to fight a surging and dangerous opponent in Rui, and rightfully so. While the result may not have gone in his favor, looking at how the former K1 World Champion Wei Rui was able to do against Akimoto, it’s safe to say this age should age well for the former Championship, who has now a hill to climb after back to back losses.