Takeru Segawa was born on July 29, 1991, in Yonago, Japan. His father, an amateur historian, named him after the legendary warrior Yamato Takeru. As a child, he became fascinated by professional wrestling, which he watched with his father, but it was the Japanese Kickboxing organization K-1 that truly captivated him, especially when Andy Hug won the K-1 Grand Prix in 1996. He began karate in the second grade of elementary school and eventually earned a black belt in Shin Karate.
After being expelled from school, Takeru worked several jobs to fund his dream: moving to Thailand alone to train in Muay Thai. That period laid the foundation for a fighting style that combined karate technique with Thai kicking combinations. Back in Japan, he first dominated the amateur ranks before putting together an unbeaten seven-year run in professional K-1 and becoming the only three-time champion in the organization’s history, with titles in super bantamweight in 2015, featherweight in 2016, and super featherweight in 2018. In 2023, he added an ISKA K-1 world title at lightweight.
In January 2024, Takeru made the move to ONE Championship and immediately debuted against established flyweight king Superlek Kiatmuu9, losing the bout by decision. After a knockout victory over Thant Zin in September 2024, he was given his first meeting with Rodtang Jitmuangnon at ONE 172 in March 2025, which he surprisingly lost by knockout in the first round. He bounced back with a TKO victory over Denis Purić at ONE 173 in November 2025, paving the way for a long-awaited rematch with Rodtang.
That rematch, held on April 29, 2026, at ONE SAMURAI 1 in Japan, became the final chapter of his career: Takeru stopped Rodtang via TKO in the fifth round and captured the interim ONE Flyweight Kickboxing world title, earning a $100,000 bonus. Immediately after the fight, he announced his retirement, partly because of a herniated disc in his neck that had troubled him for more than a year. As of September 2026, he is therefore listed as the reigning interim world champion, a title he will never defend, and he will be inducted into the ONE Championship Hall of Fame in October 2026 during ONE SAMURAI 4. He was trained by Masakazu Watanabe at Team VASILEUS, and previously by Kensaku Maeda at K-1 Gym KREST and Team Dragon.
Japan
