Former K-1 lightweight champion Yuki Yoza has finally entered free agency after a lengthy contract dispute with K-1 in which Yoza wasn’t hearing back from the promotion, and the event went as far as returning the Lightweight title to the promotion’s offices himself, and he said to kickboxing news outlet, Beyond Kickboxing.
“Since last November, I haven’t recieved any fight offers at all. Even when i contacted them about relinquishing the belt, I got no response, so I went directly to the K-1 office and i returned the belt myself.“
However, as if today, Yuki Yoza is now officially a free agent, as the Karate kickboxing phenom would go on to let his fans know on social media and K-1 itself would release a statement regarding his departure.
Yuki Yoza is likely headed to ONE Championship along with his teammates.
Yoza is part of the all-star kickboxing stable, Team Vasileus, which features names like former 3-division K-1 champion Takeru Segawa and current ONE Interim Featherweight Kickboxing Champion Masaaki Noiri. Being easily one of the best kickboxing teams from Japan, as they have over 5 K-1 and ISKA world champions. Yoza is already a season champion and has absolutely dominated in Japan, winning over the likes of Petchdam, who was once a champion in ONE.
With the top dogs of his stable being welcomed over in ONE Championship by Chatri Sityodtong, it seems more than likely that Yoza will sign with ONE and try to conquer the bantamweight division there where the likes of Johnathan Haggerty, Wei Rui, and Ilias Ennahachi will wait in the wings for the former K-1 champion to arrive.
