This Saturday, Chihiro Sawada, one of Japan’s top prospects, is set to make her U.S. debut when she takes on Ana Palacios at Combate Global: Mexico vs Japan. At 25 years old, Sawada is the undefeated Shooto Atomweight Champion. She also comes from a solid wrestling background, having wrestled since she was 5 and and having finished 2nd at the 2017 Junior Asian Championships. She may also be familiar to fans of Japanese MMA since her brother, Ryuto Sawada is a 26 fight veteran who’s competed in Shooto and One Championship. (Picture in header is used courtesy of Abema TV)
A look back at 2022 to now
2022 was a great year for Chihiro, especially when you consider she only just made her pro-debut in May of 2021. She competed in and won Shooto’s Infinity League tournament, winning their inaugural atomweight championship in the process. She also defeated Yuki Ono, whom she had fought to a draw in her pro-debut, showing clear signs of growth. However, when asked about it, she mentioned that there may be this image of her winning the tournament, but she feels that there is a lot she should have done in those fights and she realized she needs to train even harder in order to level up.
When Chihiro fights in Miami this Saturday, it will not be her first fight abroad, as she fought in Thailand earlier this year, as part of One’s Friday Fights series. For that fight, she was brought in on a one-fight contract, where she faced and defeated Sanaz Fayazmanesh with an Americana early in the second round. Going into the match, she told us that she was more nervous than usual, as this was her first fight abroad and her first fight in a ring, so she felt a lot of pressure to win. However, once she stepped into the ring, she realized it wasn’t as big as she’d expected and her nerves went back to normal.
The dream of fighting abroad
In the past, when speaking to Chihiro, she’s made it clear that her goal is to fight outside of Japan, telling us that when she first got into MMA, it was with the goal of fighting overseas. As she explained, fighting for a promotion like Rizin isn’t what excites her, fighting abroad is what gets her heart going. She’s also made it clear that she would really like to compete for One Championship and face the likes of Angela Lee and Stamp Fairtex. This may have to do with the fact that her brother fought there, something she openly admits stating that she wants to get his attention and get him to say that she’s amazing.
However, it is worth mentioning that she is the active Shooto Atomweight Champion and she did step into the cage with Megumi Fujii when Shooto’s new all women’s series called Colors was announced. When speaking to her about this, she did mention that she may defend that title later this year.
Heading to California
Back in March, Chihiro flew to California as part of Abema’s overseas training project. While fighters like Itsuki Hirata and Miki Motono have taken part in the past, Chihiro will be the first to take part under their new format, where the fighters will not only train abroad, their Japanese coach will also be brought over for a portion of their training camp, in order to observe modern non-Japanese gyms in action, and a fight will also be scheduled in that country. In this instance, Chihiro will fight at a Combate Global event in Miami that will air live on Abema in Japan.
For the gym, Chihiro has been training at Team Oyama in Irvine, California, a gym that has been around for over 27 years and has produced fighters like Ian McCall, Alex Perez, and Carla Esparza. Even though Esparza is now pregnant, footage from Chihiro’s fight diary shows that the former two-time UFC champion is at the gym helping her prepare for her upcoming fight, which seems like a good fit, considering both fighters come from a wrestling background. It is also worth noting that she isn’t the only Japanese fighter at the gym, as Yuma Horiuchi also trains there. All-in-all, Chihiro told us that she will be at the gym for a month and a half.
When we spoke to Chihiro ahead of this trip, she told us that despite being nervous, she was excited to train with non-Japanese fighters and see what that’s like. Well, in her fight diary, she mentioned that more than their physical strength, she’s been most impressed with the quality of their jiu-jitsu, their sweeps, and their overall technique, adding that it made her feel inferior.
Making her U.S. debut in Miami
While she is training in California, Sawada will be fighting in Miami this Saturday at Combate Global: Mexico vs Japan, where three Japanese fighters will challenge three from Mexico. Across the cage from Chihiro will be Ana Palacios, a 7-1-1 fighter, who despite being a year younger than Chihiro, made her pro-debut back in 2018, three years before Chihiro. Standing at 4’8, Ana will be the shortest opponent Chihiro’s ever faced. In fact, this will be the first time in her career that Chihiro is actually the taller than her opponent. It is also worth noting that in her seven victories, Ana has four submissions and that she’s never been defeated at Atomweight.
How to watch
Inside of the U.S., the fight can be watched on Univision and Paramount Plus (1:00 AM ET; 10 PM PT), while in Japan the event can be watched live on Abema (5/14 1:00 PM JT).
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