Japanese ‘Zombie’ believes she deserves a shot at the strawweight or atomweight MMA belt after winning a bonus at ONE 169

Japanese MMA star Ayaka Miura wants a shot at the ONE Championship after her latest win – whether it’s over Xiong Jingnan or Stamp Fairtex.

The 34-year-old “Zombie” is now on a three-fight winning streak and landed a US$50,000 bonus for submitting Argentina’s Macarena Aragon in the first round of their atomweight bout earlier this month -this at ONE 169.

A former title challenger at strawweight, Miura is looking to earn another spot against champion Xiong of China, but is also happy to fight Stamp for the 115-pound belt once the Thai returns from injury next year .

“Xiong Jingnan, she hasn’t competed for a while. I don’t know if she still does it. But yes, I want it,” Miura told the Bangkok Post.

“When Stamp comes back, I want to fight with her too. I just want to have a title.

“I don’t really think about rankings, but I want to get a title, it could be at strawweight or atomweight, that’s fine with me.”

With a return to Tokyo reportedly scheduled for early 2025, Miura would love to fight in front of his own fans again.

“If it’s a place that Japanese people can look at, I’m happy to do it,” she added. “But this year a lot of my fights were canceled, so I just want to fight. I don’t care where he is. I am prepared for this.

Through no fault of his own, Miura twice saw a fight with Jihin Radzuan fall through in 2024 – the Malaysian withdrew weeks injured from his original date in April, then lost weight in October for the reorganized fight.

“I said I want that $50,000,” Miura said. “It happened, so I was so happy. I had a fight, but then it was called off – a lot has happened this year.

“A lot of people helped me get through this, so I want to use this money for them.”

“Of course I’m happy to have the bonus, but I also understand that you have to have an opponent to fight against. This is not something you should take for granted, which is why I also want to thank Aragon.