From Collecting Garbage to Collecting Titles: Yuki Yoza's Rise to Kickboxing Royalty

The 28-year-old Japanese kickboxing sensation faces former ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Champion Nabil Anane in a highly anticipated bantamweight kickboxing clash at ONE SAMURAI 4.

This show, which streams on live.onefc.com, goes down live at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, October 17.

What very few people knew during his rise is that for five years, Yoza worked as a municipal waste collector in Tokyo. What he did every single day to keep fighting while keeping that job is one of the most remarkable stories in the sport.

Yoza Worked the 2-5 a.m. Shift, Commuted Two Hours, and Trained

The logistical challenge Yoza navigated every day during his five years as a garbage collector in Tokyo would have broken most fighters before they ever had the chance to develop. His daily routine was a relentless cycle of labour, travel, training, and minimal rest repeated across five years of competition.

"I would work in the morning, which would be from 2-5 a.m., and then it would take me two hours to get to the gym. I would train, then go home to take a rest. I wake up for a night shift, go home to sleep for a few hours and then do it all over again the next day," Yoza recalled.

Training while working night shifts that begin at 2 a.m., followed by a two-hour commute to the gym, is not a schedule that produces Olympians or world champions by conventional logic. Yoza made it work anyway, and the career he has built in kickboxing since those years is the proof that the conventional logic was wrong.

Yoza Credits Tough Years for Keeping Him Hungry and Motivated

The garbage collection years did not simply test Yoza's physical limits. They became the internal fuel that powers every training session and every competitive performance, a permanent reference point for what sacrifice looks like in practice.

"That experience has always helped me to stay hungry. Whenever I look back on that experience and remember all that I have been through, it makes me hungrier. It makes me motivated to work harder," he explained.

Yoza is a former K-1 Champion whose calf kicks have earned worldwide recognition, including praise from legendary commentator Joe Rogan, who once called him one of his favorite fighters to watch.

The Japanese striker’s 23-3 striking record includes nine stoppages, and his ONE Championship campaign produced wins over Elbrus Osmanov, Petchtanong Petchfergus, and  Superlek before a world title challenge against Jonathan Haggerty ended in defeat earlier this year. He bounced back against British star Ben Woolliss and now meets Anane in Tokyo.

Yoza Tells the Next Generation to Work 10 Times Harder Than the Competition

The lessons Yoza took from his garbage collection years have shaped how he thinks about the sport and what advice he passes on to the fighters who come after him. The message is direct and grounded entirely in the personal experience behind it.

"My advice to the next generation, to the young fighters, is to work 10 times harder than you are now. Work 10 times harder than your competition. You have to have the determination to do that in order to be successful," he said.

A fighter who worked the 2-5 a.m. shift and still made it to the gym every day for five years has earned the authority to deliver that advice without qualification. Yoza's story is already proof that the principle works, and the Tokyo crowd at Ariake Arena on October 17 will be cheering for a hometown hero who built everything the hard way.