The 27-year-old Japanese contender will challenge Adriano Moraes for the undisputed bantamweight crown in the One Championship “One X” co-feature on Saturday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Nearly three years removed from his most recent defeat, Wakamatsu enters the cage on the strength of five consecutive victories. He last appeared at One Championship “Winter Warriors,” where he laid claim to a three-round unanimous decision over Yong Hu on Dec. 3.
As Wakamatsu moves ever closer to the most significant opportunity of his career, here are five things you might not know about him:
1. He demands attention.
Wakamatsu put himself on the regional map with a nine-fight winning streak between Oct. 18, 2015 and Oct. 8, 2017—a run of sustained success that covered nearly two full years, saw him win a tournament title in Pancrase and progress to the upper reaches of the flyweight division within the venerable Japanese organization.
2. Adversity failed to break him.
“Little Piranha” challenged Senzo Ikeda for the flyweight crown in the Pancrase 293 main event on Feb. 4, 2018. However, Wakamatsu fell short in his bid to capture promotional gold when he succumbed to knees and elbows from his countryman in the fifth round of their encounter in Tokyo. He has compiled a 6-2 record since, with one of those two losses having come to the incomparable Demetrious Johnson.
3. He put down roots with a battle-tested camp.
Wakamatsu trains out of the Tribe Tokyo MMA academy fronted by Pride Fighting Championships and Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Ryo Chonan. There, he has enjoyed access to a number of world-class competitors, including Yuya Shirai, Yasuhiro Urushitani, Kiyotaka Shimizu, Takenori Sato and former Dream, Shooto and One Championship titleholder Shinya Aoki.
4. His strengths are evident in the results.
The Tribe Tokyo MMA rep has delivered 11 of his 15 career victories by knockout or technical knockout, seven of them inside one round. Wakamatsu’s fight-ending power has followed him to One Championship, where he has already punched out Geje Eustaquio and Kyu Sung Kim.
5. He travels neither far nor wide.
Wakamatsu has never fought outside of Asia. He has gone 10-3 in his native Japan, a perfect 4-0 in Singapore, 1-0 in the Philippines and 0-1 in Indonesia.