Wei Rui tells critics of Hiroki Akimoto win to "improve your knowledge of the rules"
Chinese veteran Wei Rui has encouraged those complaining about his win over Hiroki Akimoto to study the rules of kickboxing.
The 34-year-old Wei, a former K-1 king making his debut in ONE Championship, earned a unanimous decision victory at ONE Fight Night 22 on Saturday morning in Bangkok.
Two of the three ringside judges scored it 29-28 at Lumpinee Stadium, with the third giving all three rounds to Wei.
Some fans were in uproar on social media, with the martial arts promotion's CEO Chatri Sityodtong even telling Sportskeeda he would like to book an immediate rematch.
"Regarding the controversial decision, I think that’s probably because some people don’t know much about our rules and regulations. I believe I deserved this victory. No matter the points or scores, I took the prominent position in the ring. That was my tactic, to follow his moves and his pace.
Wei admitted he was "not quite satisfied" with his performance against Akimoto and would only give himself a "seven out of 10" rating.
But he still felt he did more than enough to get his hand raised by referee Olivier Coste. Wei added:
"I want to say this in front of all of the cameras and the media. If you think this decision is not unanimous and is controversial, probably we have some room to improve your knowledge about the rules. I will use my performance in the next fight to show that I am the winner definitely."
Akimoto was despondent backstage after the fight and told Sportskeeda he hoped ONE Championship would review the fight or grant him a rematch.
The 31-year-old former champion from Japan felt he did enough in rounds two and three to seal victory, but Wei – naturally – disagreed. He said:
"It's fair for everyone to have their own thoughts – of course he would think he’s the best and he should win. It’s a good thing he is confident in himself. But in my opinion it’s not the case. I think I vcontrolled him more and the frequency of his punches and attacks were not as high as mine so I think technically I got the prominent position in the ring."
Wei shrugged off the idea of a rematch against Akimoto, insisting he only has his eyes set on gold.
"The reason I am here with ONE Championship is I want to get the belt. That is my only goal, so if he wants to challenge me again, the only reason would be because he held the belt."
The bantamweight kickboxing title is currently held by Jonathan Haggerty after it was stripped from Petchtanong Petchfergus in 2023 because of a failed drug test.
But with Haggerty tied up with a defense of his bantamweight Muay Thai against Superlek Kiatmoo9 in September. An interim belt – and a fight against Petchtanong – could be possible for Wei.
"I would like to challenge Jonathan and Petchtanong. If Jonathan doesn’t hold the belt, I’m willing to challenge whomever has it."