On Tuesday, ONE Championship announced the signings of former K-1 super welterweight champion Hiromi Wajima and K-1 super lightweight champion Yodkhunpon. These announcements succeed nine previous signings of K-1 champions by ONE Championship: Chingiz Allazov, Marat Grigorian, Wei Rui, KANA, Yuki Yoza, Takeru Segawa, Masaaki Noiri, Toma Kuroda, and Rukiya Anpo, who was recently poached from Japan's largest promotion Rizin.
K-1 reignited Yodkhunpon's fading career last year, as he won the super lightweight title vacated by Tetsuya Yamato in a dominant tournament run in his first time back at 65 kg since 2014. He went perfect 6-0 with 5 stoppages with the organization, but his defection to ONE does not come as a surprise, as he had shown interest in joining the Thai promotion before and during his time with K-1.
Nearing the end of his tenure with the Japanese giant, he was lined up to fight Yuki Yoza to defend his title, but Yoza had already left K-1 behind. The announcement puts the fight back on the table, though with his difficulty making weight, the hydration system may cause him to move back up to 70 kg.
On the other hand, Wajima's signing came as more of a shock as he had expressed his interest in moving to MMA after his contract with K-1 expired. Despite a skid last year in which he was stopped by current K-1 super welterweight Champion Ouyang Feng and title challenger Darryl Verdonk back-to-back, Wajima bounced back with the biggest win in his career, a stoppage over Stoyan Koprivlenski, who had pushed Tyjani Beztati and Kacper Muzcynski to the brink.
Despite already being 30, at the tail end of his prime, he will undoubtedly breathe some life into an aging featherweight division in ONE.
