Dealing with her best profession adversity, Rizin FF Ladies’s Tremendous Atomweight Champion Seika Izawa rallied from the brink of defeat and retained her title tonight at Rizin Combating Federation: “Shiwasu no Cho Tsuwamono Matsuri” in Saitama, Japan. Izawa submitted Rena Kubota within the second spherical.
Izawa, who has steamrolled most of her opponents throughout her undefeated profession up to now, was very practically knocked out by a left hook and follow-up punches from Kubota early in tonight’s title struggle. She recovered shortly, nevertheless, and proceeded to dominate the remainder of the bout on the bottom.
Izawa (18-0-0) discovered herself flat on her again lower than a minute into tonight’s title defence after Kubota (15-6-0) rocked her with a lead left hook after which dribbled her head off of the canvas with two follow-up punches on the bottom. Referee Masato Fukuda virtually stopped the struggle, however Izawa recovered sufficient to tie Kubota up from the underside after which postured for an armbar seconds later. That motion saved Izawa within the struggle and Kubota finally stood over prime of her and kicked at her legs.
When Izawa obtained to her toes, she took Kubota down in a nook and moved from aspect management to mount. Izawa dropped punches and elbows to Kubota’s face after which took Kubota’s again. She continued to punch after which labored for a rear-naked choke till the bell sounded to finish the thrilling spherical.
Izawa took Kubota down into North-South place within the second spherical and transitioned from a North-South choke setup to a reverse guillotine choke. From there, she pulled guard with a traditional guillotine choke and Kubota was caught with nowhere to go. She reluctantly tapped out on the 1:58 mark of the second spherical and Izawa held on to her title.
Tonight’s bout, which had been postponed and outright cancelled previously because of points that Izawa blamed on Kubota, had changed into a grudge match as a result of dangerous blood that developed between the fighters. Izawa had promised to smash Kubota, and refused to shake her hand after weigh-ins, however tonight it was Kubota who opted to not contact gloves after which proceeded to virtually pull off a stunning upset. Izawa gave full credit score to her foe when talking backstage after her profitable title defence.
“I’m relieved,” Izawa mentioned. “I didn’t anticipate the [left] hook, and I remorse that. She got here for the end after I obtained hit, so I defended towards that. She has the toughest punch that I’ve ever been hit by. I needed our trash speak to have extra honesty, however she didn’t present her actual character when in entrance of the digital camera. I wish to push ladies’s MMA with tales and I began the Seika Izawa Problem due to that. I need fighters to chase me. The scholars want arduous coaching and to show their character. If [Kubota] climbs up the ladder once more, I’ll struggle her once more.”
“I felt that [left] hook’s impact and I assumed I may get the end,” Kubota mirrored. “If I had hit 5 extra punches, I end her, however [Izawa] recovered so shortly and so I couldn’t chase it an excessive amount of. She is nice on the bottom and arrange her takedown properly. If I had gained, I’d have retired as a result of that will have been cool, however it didn’t occur. I can enhance extra and I’ll come again. I didn’t take into consideration her trash speak and I didn’t care. We thanked one another [after the fight] as a result of it is a sport.”
