Tatsuya Kawajiri Ready to Show He is the Top Fighter at Featherweight

The weight cutting phenomenon is nothing new in MMA and there are many occasions where a fighter will drop divisions for the wrong reasons.

Maybe they are coming off of a couple losses, or maybe it’s just having people in their ear saying that they’d do better at a lower weight class.

The flipside of that argument, however, are the fighters that flourish at a lower weight class.

That seems to be the case with former Pride lightweight contender Tatsuya Kawajiri, who has found career rejuvenation at featherweight after spending most of his career as a lightweight.

Since dropping down a weight class, Kawajiri has looked ultra impressive winning two fights in a row, including submissions over Joachim Hansen and Kazuyuki Miyata.

Now “The Crusher” will look to make it three in a row when he makes his One FC debut this weekend against King of the Cage veteran Donald Sanchez.

Kawajiri now feels like he has finally found the right home and wants to continue his dominance at One FC 3 this weekend in Singapore.

“I feel it is the right division for me and I am ready to take on the top fighters and show that I am the top fighter,” Kawajiri told MMAWeekly.com. “I feel being featherweight will give me an advantage that I did not have at 155 pounds. I am more comfortable fighting at this weight. Cutting the weight is not easy, but that is my business, I will make the weight.”

The fight against Sanchez is Kawajiri’s first for One FC, and he’s hopeful to fight for them many more times. While he still hopes to compete in Japan for Dream, there’s no hiding the fact that the promotion has undergone hard times of late financially speaking, while One FC continues to expand throughout Asia.

If Kawajiri has his way though, he’ll be a very busy man in 2012. “I would like to fight six times in 2012, for One FC and for Dream and wherever the offer comes.”

Kawajiri’s debut appearance in One FC will also be his first fight in front of the fans of Singapore, and while he is slated as the co-main event of the evening, the former Strikeforce competitor wants to leave all of them with something to remember.

“I want to fight in a way that fans will never forget. I want to win and I want to get fight of the night. It’s not enough for me to win, I want to put on a performance which people will remember so that I can become a Japanese superstar in Singapore,” Kawajiri stated.

If he can get past Sanchez at One FC, Kawajiri will continue to be a hot commodity in the featherweight division. With several impressive wins to his credit at 155 pounds already, Kawajiri’s star will definitely be on the rise at 145 pounds this year.

Tatsuya Kawajiri’s bout with Donald Sanchez, as well as all the other fights on the One FC 3: War of the Lions card, will be available to view for free on the promotion’s YouTube channel starting at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 31.

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