The ONE SAMURAI 5 lineup just secured two explosive mixed martial arts additions ahead of its return to Tokyo’s EBARA WAVE Arena Ota on Wednesday, November 18.
Former ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks officially makes his way back to the 125-pound ranks to battle Japanese veteran Tatsumitsu “The Sweeper” Wada. Meanwhile, the heavyweight MMA division gets a guaranteed firefight when knockout artists Ryugo Takeuchi and Brandon Hashimoto collide in front of a raucous hometown crowd.
These high-stakes matchups bolster an already stacked card, which is headlined by a ONE Strawweight MMA World Title clash between defending king Joshua “The Passion” Pacio and surging challenger Keito “Pocket Monk” Yamakita.
Former Strawweight MMA King Back For Redemption
Jarred Brooks is making his highly anticipated return to the world’s largest martial arts organization in search of gold.
After joining ONE in 2021, the American MMA standout utilized his suffocating wrestling, relentless forward pressure, and slick submission game to tear through top contenders Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang, Hiroba Minowa, and Bokang “Little Giant” Masunyane.
That dominant surge carried Brooks all the way to Pacio, culminating in arguably the defining performance of his career at ONE 164 in December 2022. Over five grueling rounds, Brooks outworked the Filipino superstar to claim the undisputed ONE Strawweight MMA World Title.
His reign ultimately unraveled under highly unusual circumstances. Brooks lost the belt back to Pacio via disqualification after an illegal slam brought their 2024 rematch to a premature end.
Rather than allowing that critical mistake to define him, the former titleholder immediately fought his way back into the World Championship picture. With Pacio temporarily sidelined by injury, Brooks submitted Cuban wrestling standout Gustavo “El Gladiador” Balart in the first round to capture the ONE Interim Strawweight MMA World Championship.
Since then, however, the road has been considerably more turbulent.
Brooks tested the waters at flyweight in December 2024 but dropped a razor-close split decision. Two months later, he returned to strawweight for his long-awaited trilogy with Pacio, only to suffer a devastating second-round TKO that emphatically ended his bid to reunify the belts.
Another move up to flyweight last October brought a further setback, as Russian grappler Mansur Malachiev caught the American with a tight north-south choke in the second round.
Now, Brooks once again returns to the 125-pound weight class where he enjoyed his absolute greatest success, eager to remind the division exactly why he once sat upon its throne.
Wada, however, offers a highly experienced and battle-tested measuring stick for the returning former divisional king.
The former DEEP Flyweight Champion has been competing in ONE since 2018 and has shared the global stage with some of the best lighter-weight mixed martial artists of his generation. He reached the ONE Flyweight MMA World Grand Prix semifinals in 2019 after defeating Balart, before pushing all-time great and ONE Championship Hall-of-Fame athlete Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson through three highly competitive rounds.
More recently, “The Sweeper” returned to his winning ways on home soil at ONE SAMURAI 1 this past April. Utilizing his fluid movement, accurate straight punches, and immense veteran savvy, Wada edged out Seiichiro Ito by split decision to secure the 27th victory of his storied professional career.
Now dropping down to strawweight, Wada possesses a massive opportunity to score one of the biggest wins of his lengthy career against a former champion.
Two Japanese Knockout Artists Collide In Heavyweight MMA Showdown
The heavyweight MMA division gets a fascinating all-Japanese collision when Ryugo Takeuchi and Brandon Hashimoto share the ring for the very first time.
Takeuchi is a 23-year-old second-degree judo black belt fighting out of King Gym Kobe who has tested himself against some of the heaviest hitters on the planet, carrying genuine knockout power into every single contest.
His lone ONE victory to date came in 2025, when he stopped “Mighty Warrior” Kang Ji Won in just 98 seconds — a brutal performance that showcased his elite finishing ability at the highest level. A difficult run since that night has severely tested the young Japanese heavyweight, but November 18 represents his golden opportunity to return to the win column on the biggest stage of his career.
Standing directly across from him is Hashimoto, a dangerous 28-year-old boasting an 8-2 career record, with the vast majority of those victories arriving via devastating knockout. He now makes his ONE debut in this exhilarating clash.
A fighter of Hashimoto’s proven finishing pedigree walking into a hometown battle against a fellow Japanese knockout artist guarantees one of the most explosive heavyweight matchups the ONE SAMURAI 5 card has to offer.
