As anticipated, Rizin FF Girls’s Tremendous Atomweight Champion Seika Izawa remained undefeated and scored one other fast submission win tonight at Rizin Preventing Federation 49: “Decade” in Saitama, Japan. Izawa tapped out short-notice foe Lucia Apdelgarim with a first-round triangle armbar.
Izawa had initially been slated to face Rena Kubota on tonight’s card, however that bout was scrapped when Kubota sustained an harm. Izawa’s Rizin title was not on the road in opposition to the huge underdog, Apdelgarim, however she however put forth one other sturdy effort whereas securing the victory.
Izawa (15-0-0) clinched early in tonight’s bout in an effort to nullify the placing of Apdelgarim (2-4-0), who was signed by Rizin after scoring a serious upset over widespread Japanese kickboxer Rina “Panchan” Okamoto earlier this 12 months. There can be no upset victory for Apdelgarim tonight, nonetheless, as she was promptly taken down and trapped in a triangle choke by Izawa. Apdelgarim fought on and refused to submit as Izawa switched to an armbar after which again to the triangle choke. When she lastly mixed the 2 holds into a good triangle armbar, the pressure on Apdelgarim’s left arm was an excessive amount of and she or he tapped out on the 2:21 mark of the primary spherical.
Previous to the struggle, issues had gotten heated between Izawa and Apdelgarim on the pre-match faceoffs when Apdelgarim had positioned her fist in opposition to Izawa’s head. Izawa used that as gas and motivation to win shortly, which she did, however issues appeared to have smoothed over between the 2 following their struggle and Apdelgarim paid respect to the undefeated champion.
“I’m relieved,” Izawa expressed backstage after her win. “She fought as I had imagined and she or he has sturdy placing and coronary heart. When she put her fist in opposition to my head throughout our faceoff, it struck a nerve. I need to present a champion’s angle, so I’ve stopped crying [in the ring] after fights. I need to proceed to point out my abilities at atomweight. I can’t think about shedding at that weight even in opposition to a powerful foreigner.”
“I’m sorry that I misplaced, however I need to have fun [Izawa’s] win,” Apdelgarim mentioned. “I need to relaxation after which I will probably be again. I believe my look at Rizin will open the door for different feminine fighters from Argentina to compete in Japan. If [Rina] ‘Panchan’ [Okamoto] needs a rematch, I’ll take that struggle. I reduce my hair off yesterday as a result of making weight is a fighter’s responsibility.”
Seika Izawa (left) and Lucia Apdelgarim (proper) backstage following Rizin FF 49.
