WATCH: Old rivals Rukiya Anpo and Masaaki Noiri run into each other backstage at ONE 173 press conference

Kickboxing rivals Masaaki Noiri and Rukiya Anpo recently run into each other in a ONE Championship event. They expressed their willingness to touch gloves anew at some point.

The encounter took place backstage of the press conference last week for the promotion's marquee ONE 173 event, where the two Japanese superstars will compete against separate opponents. The show will take place on Nov. 16 at the historic Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

Noiri headlines the event as he tries to combine the ONE featherweight kickboxing championship belts as the interim champion against reigning divisional king Superbon of Thailand in a unification bout. Anpo, meanwhile, will be making his ONE Championship debut against veteran Armenian fighter Marat Grigorian in a featherweight kickboxing showdown.

At the ONE 173 press conference on Sept. 11 at the Shinagawa The Grand Hall in Tokyo, Masaaki Noiri and Anpo got to interact and agreed to revisit their rivalry now in ONE Championship.

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Anop told Noiri:

"I came to ONE to beat you. I'll definitely reach where you are. Look forward to my rise."

To which the interim featherweight kickboxing world champion responded:

"Well, you need to beat Grigorian first. Let's start with that, and I'll defeat Superbon."

ONE Championship captured the interaction of the rivals on video and shared it on Instagram:

Masaaki Noiri and Anpo met back in September 2021, with the former winning by TKO (three knockdowns) to claim the K-1 World Grand Prix welterweight championship. It was a defeat that still resonates with Anpo until now and something he is determined to redeem himself from.

For more information on ONE 173: Superbon vs. Noiri, follow Sportskeeda MMA and ONE Championship.

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Masaaki Noiri confident of beating Superbon in unification bout at ONE 173

While he is open to running it back against Rukiya Anpo, Masaaki Noiri is first focused on his scheduled unification title match against Thai superstar Superbon at ONE 173. It is a task he expressed confidence of being successful at.

The 32-year-old Team Vasileus standout made this known in a short conversation with martial artist Achilleus Ralli, saying:

"I'm going to fight the best in the world, Superbon. I have a belt, but this is the interim champion belt."

He went to say:

"So, I will beat the best, Superbon, and I will be the official world champion of this division."

Entering ONE 173, Noiri will be coming off his impressive third-round TKO win over Thai striking ace Tawanchai PK Saenchai to claim the interim featherweight kickboxing belt.

Superbon, meanwhile, will be making his first defense of his world title after returning to the summit of the featherweight kickboxing division earlier this year.

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Edited by Himakshu Vyas