Yoshiki Nakahara

Status: Former ONE Athlete

Gladiator Featherweight Champion Yoshiki Nakahara first started training in judo in high school, but soon became obsessed with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and mixed martial arts after reading a book by Japanese legend Shinya Aoki. He resolved to follow in his hero’s footsteps to compete professionally in the cage and moved to Tokyo as a teenager to train under Shooto legend Hayato “Mach” Sakurai.

Nakahara then made his cage debut in 2012 and has used his elite grappling to win his way across Japan. He captured a featherweight title in Japanese promotion Gladiator before moving to the Pancrase organization, where he defeated top opposition such as former Shooto World Champion Akitoshi Tamura on the way to an impressive seven-bout win streak.

This sterling success caught the attention of ONE Championship, and Nakahara finally got his chance to shine on the global stage with a stunning knockout of the tough Emilio Urrutia. He recognizes that he now has his golden opportunity to make a name for himself, and he vows to leave it all in the cage every time he competes so that he will have no regrets.