​From the outside, reigning ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion Nadaka Yoshinari‘s seven-year unbeaten run looks effortless. Up close, it was built on a struggle few ever saw.The 25-year-old is out to extend his 42-fight winning streak when he defends his crown against Malaysia’s Rifdean “Magic Boy” Masdor in the co-main event of ONE SAMURAI 4 inside Tokyo’s Ariake Arena on Saturday, October 17.View this post on InstagramWell before the wins started piling up, the Japanese star was just a teenager chasing glory in the world-famous stadium Muay Thai scene in Thailand. While some of his schoolmates enjoyed the luxury of having free time, he stayed dedicated to his craft, balancing between his career and homework.As the years passed by, the World Titles followed. Nadaka became only the second non-Thai to win gold in both the Lumpinee and Rajadamnern Stadium. Still, success inside the ring did not translate into the life he imagined outside it.Nadaka told onefc.com:“Before I was a champion, I was actually fighting at a loss. Even after becoming champion, the purse money wasn’t [enough]. The travel costs for fights ate into it. So, even with a win, I basically broke even. “Around then, I was watching friends who’d finished high school and gone straight into blue-collar jobs around 18 to 19, and I noticed a lot of them were making more money than me.”View this post on InstagramWork like that is no easy ride either, but the comparison weighed on him all the same. He had given up club activities and time with friends to pour everything into fighting, and the rewards never reflected the sacrifice. It was a stretch that tested him more than he let on.Through those years, the Kanagawa native leaned on his mentor, Eiwa Sports Gym Chairman Natsuo Nakagawa, but the biggest shift had to come from within. What kept him going was a different way of measuring himself, one that had little to do with the easy markers of success.Nadaka added:“At the time, I think my own recognition was still at the level of ‘people into fighting may already know me, but if you don’t watch this stuff at all, you have no idea who I am.’ So within that, I felt like I needed something more. There was even a period where I thought winning belts alone would help and make me more famous.“But I was wrong. I really struggled with that and talked it through with Chairman Nakagawa a lot. There was definitely inner conflict through all of that, but I think all of that is connected to where I am now.”View this post on InstagramThat belief has carried him through more than seven years without a loss and multiple Muay Thai World Title wins, and it has never turned into complacency. In ONE, the results have been just as emphatic: he claimed the inaugural atomweight Muay Thai crown against Numsurin Chor Ketwina at ONE 173, then turned back Songchainoi “Mini-Hulk” Kiatsongrit across five rounds at ONE SAMURAI 1. He is now perfect across six promotional appeara