ONE Championship: “Way above the sky”

Taiga Orii would not have believed it four years ago. The half-Japanese, half-Ghanaian fighter simply could not picture himself sharing the ring with the world’s best.

The 30-year-old wrapped one of the most remarkable rises in recent memory at The Inner Circle 17 on Friday, finishing American fighter Julian Maykorga via ground-and-pound TKO at the 3:03 mark of round one.

His statement triumph inside the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok extended his perfect finishing rate. More importantly, he earned a life-changing $100,000 main roster contract.

The journey behind that contract, however, reads more like a film script than a fighter’s resume. The man nicknamed “Black Samurai” grew up in Japan with no martial arts background, played basketball throughout his school years, and only walked into his first MMA gym at age 22 after relocating to Cebu, Philippines, for a Japanese translator job.

A chance to fight in the world’s largest martial arts organization was nowhere on his radar at the time. But all that changed the more he fought since he turned pro last year.

Speaking to ONE Championship shortly after earning a six-figure deal inside the Mecca of Muay Thai last week, Taiga Orii opened up on just how impossible his current reality once seemed.

“For me, when I started training, fighting for an organization like ONE Championship was way above the sky,” Taiga Orii told the promotion. “So, I didn’t even dream of it because it was too high a goal, and I just started three to four years ago.”

Taiga Orii’s unlikely rise marks him as one of the most inspiring stories in ONE Championship

That kind of journey is exactly why Orii has captured the attention of fans across Asia.

With a perfect finishing rate, a contract in his pocket, and his sights firmly set on bantamweight MMA gold, the “Black Samurai” has gone from a hobbyist with no ambitions to one of the most dangerous emerging finishers on the entire roster.

Fight fans who missed any of the action from The Inner Circle 17 can secure a monthly subscription to catch the full event replay and the organization’s next Asian primetime showcase, ONE Friday Fights 158 and The Inner Circle 18 on Friday.