To anyone except maybe the most hardcore of MMA fans, Seika Izawa was an unknown prospect, but with her coming out party at the New Year’s Eve show at Rizin 33, that may soon change.
Seika Izawa beat the DEEP Jewels champ in her 2nd pro fight. Yesterday she finished reigning RIZIN champ Ayaka Hamasaki in her 5th pro fight. She started training MMA 2 years ago. https://t.co/tH53C5ZWuf
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) January 2, 2022
You can read more about her background with her interview with Sogo-Kaku.
What happened at Rizin 33:
Pretty much right off the bat, she goes for a takedown off a right overhand. While her opponent, Hamasaki, wasn’t taken down to the mat, Izawa gained back control.
Eventually they went to the floor and Hamasaki was able to gain top position. This is where Izawa started to display her defensive ground game, mixing submission threats, guard retention and strikes, especially upkicks into her defense
Hamasaki don’t want none of that
This defense made Hamasaki take a step back and try to attempt bigger strikes over the guard or after sweeping Izawa’s legs to the side. However, Izawa was able to push her away in the moment, and immediately followed up by shooting for another takedown. This time Izawa landed on top.
From there, Izawa was able to establish better side control, land a few grounded knees and elbows, before transitioning into an anaconda choke. Hamasaki was arguably saved by the bell.
In Round 2, Izawa grabs Hamasaki’s back off a left hook, when she sees Hamasaki reaching for her leg, Izawa reactively grabs a guillotine and jumps guard.
Between her defensive guard game of threats, control and upkicks, Izawa manages to keep Hamasaki occupied, ride her left leg up Hamasaki’s shoulder and lock in a triangle.
Once Izawa sat up into the mounted triangle, it was pretty much over for Rizin’s current Super Atomweight Champion (this was a non-title bout), and arguably one of the most dominant fighters in her weight class for over a decade. Kudos Izawa.
If this peaked your interest you can watch the entire fight freshly uploaded to Rizin’s official youtube channel below: