Russian warrior Rasul Yakhyaev returns to the ONE Championship cage after a two-year absence, looking for a second chance to make a good first impression.

Yakhyaev competed for ONE Championship once before, but his promotional debut saw him lose out to undefeated Hawaiian prospect Lowen Tynanes in December 2015.

Now, after a spell competing in Europe, Yakhyaev returns to Asia looking to kickstart a run of success, starting at ONE: WARRIORS OF THE WORLD on 9 December, when he takes on Thai hero Shannon “OneShin” Wiratchai in Bangkok, Thailand.

“I have only good feelings,” the 26-year-old said.

“I am very motivated for this match, and I am training hard. This will be an important match, the match of the night, and this boosts my motivation.”

Yakhyaev’s one and only appearance in the ONE Championship cage resulted in a third-round submission loss, and the sting of that defeat in Cambodia still remains two years on.

“My motivation for this match is very strong because my latest ONE Championship bout was not as good as I planned,” he admitted.

“I will try not to repeat my previous mistake in Cambodia, where everything — food, acclimatisation — was alien to me.

“I want my body to adapt well. This is most important for me now, approaching this bout at 100 per cent.”

Yakhyaev brings a strong grappling base to the cage, and says that his seasoned mat skills should give him the advantage over Wiratchai, whose striking game has made him one of the most eye-catching talents in ONE Championship today.

“I think his weakness is wrestling,” the said.

“If you look deeper, you will find even more weaknesses. He is slow in the match, as I saw, but he strikes well and hard. I think he has weaknesses in wrestling, standing up, and against the cage.”

Wiratchai is heading into the bout in stellar form, having won each of his last six bouts. Of his eight career victories, six have come via spectacular finish. His spectacular performances, coupled with his larger-than-life arena entrances, have seen him become one of the most popular Thai martial arts stars.

Despite his opponent’s impeccable form, Yakhyaev is convinced his skillset is more than a match for Wiratchai. One reason for this, he says, is due to the strength of training partners he works with at Berkut Fight Team in Chechnya.

“Another reason for my confidence is the fact that I train in my gym with very powerful guys, both standing up and on the ground,” he adds.

“Working with them gives me more self-confidence. They are very good guys, not worse than him, and other good athletes.”

Now, armed with newly-found confidence and ready to prove himself second time around, Yakhyaev says he’s ready to defeat an athlete who he believes will bring the best out of him.

“We came across each other, and he is a funny guy. There is no aggression, nothing bad in him,” he said after meeting his opponent at the event’s press conference earlier this year.

“I have seen only two of his matches. He is a very interesting martial artist. I look forward to competing with him.”

TOKYO – People dressed as Super Mario tearing round the streets of Tokyo in go-karts will have to buckle up, Japanese authorities said on Thursday (Dec 7), following a series of accidents.

Visitors to Tokyo are often stunned to see convoys of karts driven by people – often tourists – dressed up as Mario and other popular Nintendo characters screaming around the busy streets of the world’s most populous city.

Unlike many countries, Japan has no ban on people driving go-karts on public highways.

But following three accidents over the past year, the transport ministry has decided to enforce the wearing of seatbelts for such vehicles.

Currently, the vehicles have no seatbelts and drivers are not required to wear helmets, a ministry official who did not wish to be named told AFP.

“It’s dangerous as other cars cannot see them because of their low height,” he added.

The ministry is looking to implement the regulations in a few years.

Under the proposed new rules, go-karts must be at least one metre off the ground and the driving wheel must be made with soft material to prevent driver injury in case of accident.

The move comes after Kyoto-based Nintendo filed a lawsuit in February against MariCar, a Tokyo go-kart rental firm, for letting tourists wear unauthorised Nintendo character costumes.

Also read: Get the lowdown on Tokyo by sightseeing on a go-kart

KARANGASEM, Indonesia – The question Indonesian volcanologist Devy Kamil Syahbana gets most is the one he cannot answer – when, or if, rumbling Mount Agung on Bali island will blow up in a major eruption.

The 3,000 metre (9,800 ft) Agung – a so-called strato-volcano capable of very violent eruptions – has recorded a sharp rise in activity that has raised worries about a repeat of a 1963 eruption that killed more than 1,000 people.

“There’s no instrument in the world that can estimate precisely when there will be a major eruption,” said Syahbana, who runs an observatory monitoring the towering volcano, just outside a 10-km exclusion zone.

Sensors beeped and walkie-talkies crackled he spoke to Reuters at the monitoring station.

“People expect certainty but volcanology is a science of probability,” he said pointing to charts showing dramatic fluctuations in the seismic activity deep under Agung.

Authorities raised the alert status to the maximum after the volcano started erupting last month, spewing out ash over the holiday island and causing travel chaos by closing its airport for three days last week.

While hot magma has produced an eerie orange glow just above the crater, and thousands of villagers have fled from their homes on the mountain’s slopes, Agung has, this time, yet to explode violently.

Syahbana, who studied volcanology in Brussels and Paris, said his team’s main job was to “increase the preparedness of the communities here in the event of a major eruption”.

He said safety was his priority, never mind that raising the alert level has spooked residents and tourists alike.

Syahbana said he had not come under any pressure to lower the alert, though his team was “aware of the costs” for Indonesia’s main tourist destination famous for its beaches and temples.

‘NO RECORDS’

Indonesia has nearly 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country.

Syahbana has surveyed and installed instruments on many of the most active ones, including Mount Merapi on Java island, to the west of Bali, and on Mount Sinabung in the north of Sumatra island.

His team of 16 scientists takes six-hour shifts to monitor seismic stations on Agung that record tremors deep inside the mountain, GPS trackers that record changes in land features and CCTV cameras that provide 24-hour surveillance.

“The difference between other volcanoes and Mount Agung is that there are no scientific records about previous eruptions here, only people’s experiences,” Syahbana said.In 1963, pyroclastic flows of lava and rocks poured out of the volcano, killing more than 1,000 people and razing dozens of villages.

According to survivors, that eruption was preceded by earthquakes, volcanic mudflows, and ashfall – all signs that Mount Agung is showing again now, said Syahbana.

COMMUNITY OF EXPERTS

This time, with the internet and live feeds on social media, experts around the world are watching the smouldering Agung.

US-based volcanologist Janine B. Krippner has been closely following developments since the alert status was first raised to the highest in September, and uses Twitter to share official information and bust myths and hoaxes circulating online.

An eruption is “usually a good time for the volcanology community to pull together and share their knowledge”, she said.

“But I’ve never seen it happen on this scale before. It’s partly due to social media and partly because it’s a small and supportive community anyway,” Krippner, who has also previously kept an eye on eruptions in Iceland, Hawaii and Chile, said by telephone.

With every passing day, and no big eruption, a danger is that a false sense of security creeps in. Syahbana and other experts said everyone has to stay on alert.

“We know this can be a very dangerous eruption,” Krippner said.

“We shouldn’t be complacent.”

Alex “Little Rock” Silva started life in the cage after a stellar career in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but the 35-year-old Copa Do Mundo champion has wasted no time in his pursuit of similar success in the ONE Championship cage.

Silva takes on Yoshitaka Naito in the main event of ONE: WARRIORS OF THE WORLD in Bangkok, Thailand, on 9 December looking to secure his sixth straight submission win, his seventh win overall, and become ONE Strawweight World Champion in the process.

Silva surged into title contention with a hugely impressive 82-second submission of previously-undefeated grappler Hayato Suzuki at ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD in Manila in November.

Silva modestly admitted he did not expect the finish to come so quickly, but was ready for the opportunity when it came.

“I was prepared for everything. You never know what is going to happen,” he explained.

“I was just a little bit surprised that he went for the takedown at the very beginning of the match. I expected him to strike more, then maybe in the second or third round try to take me down. But that was good, I was expecting [the takedown].”

The manner of Silva’s win, coupled with his undeniable form, meant he was the natural choice as the next challenger to face Naito for the ONE Strawweight World Title.

Silva recalled the moment he was told about the title shot, saying he was ready to jump into the cage there and then.

“I have worked hard for this opportunity, so I was very happy and excited,” he said. “I could not wait. I felt like I could go the same night. I was like, ‘Bring me this guy and I will go against him now!’

“Thanks to God, I was fine and was not injured, so I just took the moment and continued my training. Next, we will put on a show again on the 9th [of December].”

Silva’s run of submission wins has led him to this world title opportunity, and the Brazilian says he won’t be changing much about his preparation ahead of the biggest bout of his martial arts career.

“Pretty much, I will keep my camp the same as I did for Suzuki,” he explained. “To tell the truth, I train everything every day anyway.  Every day grappling, every day striking, every day wrestling. That is how we train here at Evolve.”

The Brazilian is confident in his own skills, and says he can’t wait to test them against another seasoned grappler in Naito, who has earned half his 12 career wins by submission.

“He is a champion, he is undefeated, and he is a grappler like me,” Silva explained.

“I believe his weakness will be his striking and his strength is going to be his grappling. My strong side is my grappling too, but people have not seen my striking yet, so maybe that can be a good point for me.

“Suzuki was a good grappler and deserved a lot of respect, but Naito will probably be the best grappler I have faced in the ONE Championship cage.

“Like I always say, I do my part of my job — I train every day — and then I put everything in God’s hands. God knows how it is gonna happen. I believe, and I am confident, that I can submit him and finish this match.”

Victory would cap a remarkable rise for the 35-year-old, who says capturing the ONE Strawweight World Championship would mean one simple thing to him: happiness.

“Winning the title would mean happiness for the people around me — my family, my friends, my team — and happiness for myself. It will make people around me happy.”

In addition, if Silva is successful in his title tilt in Bangkok, he promises to conduct himself as a world champion, embodying the values he has always held important as as martial artist.

“I believe to be a great champion, you have to show good skills, of course,” he explained. “But it is also very important to be a humble person and not let it go to your head. Be who you are every day. It does not change you just because you have a belt.

“That is what’s most important for me. To have a good character, be humble, and inspire people.”

With a career spanning 162 Muay Thai victories, Sagetdao “Deadly Star” Petpayathai goes into the ONE Championship cage holding a resume bursting with credibility.

The Thai superstar has competed just twice under the ONE Championship banner, but the 30-year-old knows all about the rigors of competition.

Petpayathai returns to action against Filipino Jimmy “The Silencer” Yabo at ONE: WARRIORS OF THE WORLD in Bangkok, Thailand, and it is almost certain sure he’ll be cheered to the rafters by local fans, who have witnessed Petpayathai’s greatness in the Muay Thai ring.

A four-time winner of the prestigious Lumpinee World Championship, Petpayathai is undergoing a career transition as he looks to translate his successes in Muay Thai to the cage, where a multitude of other martial arts techniques come into play.

His two outings in ONE Championship amount to a grand total of just about four minutes of cage time, as the striking legend showcased his skills in a pair of back-to-back first-round TKO finishes. 

His debut saw him finish Malaysia’s Kelvin Ong in 2:20, and his second appearance produced an even faster finish, as he stopped Egyptian Mahmoud Mohamed in Shanghai.

Petpayathai admits his transition to the cage remains a work in progress, and he pays tribute to his team at Singapore’s Evolve MMA for his successful start to life in the cage.

“The transition has been good,” he said. “I have a lot to learn, but I have had a lot of help from the many world champions here at Evolve MMA. Everyone helps each other out, and teaches each other a lot.

“It is is very different from Muay Thai, with different aspects including the ground game, but I feel comfortable in there (the cage).”

Stepping into the cage as a multiple-time Muay Thai world champion, much is expected of Petpayathai. And returning to action on home soil brings even more expectation and pressure.

If there’s one thing “Deadly Star” is comfortable with, it’s pressure. And a lifetime spent training for competition has equipped the Thai star with the perfect foundations on which to build a successful career in the ONE featherweight division.

“I am comfortable in my abilities, and I know when I get into the cage, I will give my all,” he said.

“I am looking forward to the match and excited for the challenge.”

Yoshitaka “Nobita” Naito faces the stiffest test of his career on 9 December, when he puts his ONE Strawweight World Title on the line against Brazlian jiu-jitsu world champion Alex “Little Rock” Silva at ONE: WARRIORS OF THE WORLD.

The Japanese grappler faces the Brazilian submission ace in a fascinating clash at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand – a battle between two of the very best ground specialists in ONE Championship.

Silva booked his place in the title bout against Naito with a hugely impressive first-round submission finish of undefeated wrestler Hayato Suzuki, and the manner of the Brazilian’s victory wasn’t lost on the defending champion.

“Hayato is known as one of the best wrestlers in Japan, so I was shocked to see him lose against a jiu-jitsu champion,” he admitted. “Alex Silva’s grappling is incredibly good.”

After that performance, Naito knew he’d be matched up with Silva, and he was happy to accept the challenge. He believes that a long, drawn-out contest favours him, with Silva’s wins coming in quickfire fashion.

“Silva’s strength is of course his ground techniques, but his striking is probably not a big threat,” he suggested.

“Silva has never gone five rounds, so if it goes the distance, it will be my time.

“I have respect toward jiu-jitsu, so If I win, my confidence will expand and will take me to the next level.”

Naito joined ONE Championship in May 2016 having already captured the Shooto Flyweight Title, then picked up the ONE Strawweight Title on his promotional debut, handing Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke the first defeat of his career.

He then successfully defended his newly-won title with a third-round submission of Filipino Joshua Pacio in Yangon, Myanmar, in October 2016 to cement his status as the premier strawweight in ONE Championship.

“It was a really tough bout, so I am glad I was able to defend my belt,” he admitted.

“In the beginning, I was amazed because Joshua’s power was more than I expected, but I was calm enough to cope with it.

“I underestimated Filipino athletes’ martial arts skills. Their skills are evolving rapidly. It turned out to be my motivation to also improve my overall skills to go to the next level.”

Since that bout, Naito has been fine-tuning his skills at Paraestra Matsudo in Chiba ahead of his next title challenge.

And now, paired with fast-rising star Silva, Naito knows he faces the toughest test of his career, as he bids to hang onto the ONE Championship belt, undefeated record, and everything the world title stands for.

“The ONE Strawweight World Championship belt is the symbol of being the strongest, the best in the world,” he proudly stated.

“Martial arts taught me plenty of things and has made my life shine.”