Yuya Wakamatsu was born on February 9, 1995, in Satsumasendai, at the southernmost tip of Japan’s main island of Kyushu, in Kagoshima Prefecture. As a young, somewhat rebellious teenager, he moved to Tokyo, where he joined Tribe Tokyo MMA specifically to train under Ryo “The Piranha” Chonan—a former PRIDE fighter and two-time DEEP world champion whose nickname Wakamatsu would later adopt himself as a tribute to his mentor. Chonan became much more than a coach to Wakamatsu: he guided him through personal crises, including after the fatal motorcycle accident involving teammate Iyori Akiba in 2016, and encouraged him to learn English and develop into a respected member of the community.
Wakamatsu built his reputation through Pancrase, where he won the 22nd Pancrase Neo Blood Flyweight Tournament in 2016, and through an early career featuring an impressive nine-fight winning streak, eight of them by knockout. In ONE Championship, he faced a series of top names in the flyweight division, including Demetrious Johnson, Danny Kingad, and Adriano Moraes.
The climax of his career came on March 23, 2025, at ONE 172, when he defeated Adriano Moraes by TKO to claim the ONE Flyweight MMA World Championship for the first time. He successfully defended the title against Joshua Pacio at ONE 173. On April 29, 2026, however, Wakamatsu lost the title by knockout to Avazbek Kholmirzaev at ONE SAMURAI 1, in the second round at 4:53. Rather than stepping away, he announced his bid to reclaim the title. On September 12, 2026, at ONE SAMURAI 3 in Yokohama, he will take his first step back toward gold against Willie van Rooyen.
Japan
