Yuya Wakamatsu has grown a lot since he moved from Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, to Tokyo ¡ª both as a fighter and a person.
Wakamatsu, who now competes in the 135-pound ONE Championship flyweight division, had a difficult time staying out of trouble in his hometown in Kagoshima Prefecture, with little more than the surrounding nature and occasional soccer game to distract him.
¡°Nature was always with me; the ocean and the mountains,¡± the 25-year-old told The Japan Times from Tokyo. ¡°I wasn¡¯t familiar with the martial arts. I was playing soccer back then.
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