Japanese powerhouse Ryugo Takeuchi has scoffed at claims he’s afraid of going down with American wrestling pro Ben “Vanilla Thunder” Tynan.

The two bruising titans will square off in a heavyweight MMA battle at ONE Fight Night 40 on Friday, February 13, inside the Legend Hall at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok.

Takeuchi is known to prefer doing most of his damage on his feet, using his hammer-like fists to deliver violent knockouts.

this 22 year old behemoth Last year Kang Ji-won showed his terrifying power by winning the prize money.

That said, he tended to stay put, leading Tynan to believe he was afraid of grappling exchanges.

After all, the Canadian is a former NCAA Division I wrestling champion who wreaked havoc through punishing ground, hard hitting and underrated submissions.

talking ONE ChampionshipTakeuchi made it clear that he’s also very good at ground work and won’t back down from Tainan.

“I don’t hate the ground game. I can do it. I’m not very good at it, but I can do it, so I don’t hate it. But I want to get the crowd excited. How do you put it? I want to win in an impactful way, so if I get knocked down, I’m not going to get into the ground fight. I’m going to get right back up and beat him to a pulp.”

Takeuchi Ryugo wary of Ben Tainan’s size advantage

Longwu Was a huge specimen but found himself smaller against Ben Tynan.

Vanilla Thunder’s height and weight advantages may cause problems, Takeuchi has already considered this.

The 22-year-old giant told ONE Champions in the same interview:

“He’s very good at tackles, single-leg takedowns, so I pay attention to that. Also, he’s a lot heavier than me – over 10 kilos – so he’s a great fighter.”

Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada can watch ONE Fight Night 40 for free with an active subscription.