Mei Yamaguchi says fighting helps her to ‘forget about the loneliness’ ahead of ONE: Century this October.

For the second time this year, Mei Yamaguchi will get the chance to delight her hometown fans when she competes at ONE: Century. Yamaguchi meets Jenny Huang in an atomweight contest on the second part of the doubleheader extravaganza. It’s a rematch of a 2017 contest at ONE: Light of a Nation won by Yamaguchi via second-round submission.

Yamaguchi, 36, is riding the wave of three consecutive victories, including back-to-back submissions of Laura Balin at ONE: Enter the Dragon and Kseniya Lachkova in Tokyo at ONE: A New Era.

Growing up presented several difficult challenges for Yamaguchi, as her family moved from Tokyo to Los Angeles while she was young.

“As Japanese growing up in the United States, everyone was curious about Japanese culture,” she said. “But, at the same time, some people made fun of me and I got bullied. Whenever I got bullied, my parents told me to stay strong, just believe in yourself and just hang out with good friends.”

Over the years, Yamaguchi has found herself embracing her heritage. She has over 30 professional martial arts bouts, winning 20 times, and has also competed in forms of submission grappling and shoot boxing during her career.

“I learned that I need to be strong and say, ‘I am Japanese. I have the spirit,’” Yamaguchi said. “I felt lonely, but whenever I go to karate, I can forget about the loneliness. Everyone is always waiting for me so I feel like they are my family too.”

Along with training in karate starting at a young age, Yamaguchi is also well-versed in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Butoku Kai, the latter of which she picked up once she returned to Japan to complete her training.

Yamaguchi also was the final competitor to be Valkyrie Featherweight Champion and owns a victory over Japanese legend Yuka Tsuji, scoring a submission back in 2010.

ONE: Century Part 2 is headlined by Aung La N Sang defending his ONE Light Heavyweight World Championship against reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon Vera, along with ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano Fernandes putting his title on the line against Kevin Belingon.

ONE: Century takes place on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019, live from the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan. Follow along with FanSided MMA who will be cage-side for all your live results and highlights from the night.