For the past couple of years, Rise has been working to develop their women’s divisions. As part of this process, they will be holding their 5th all women’s event, Rise Girls Power 5. While it is their 5th all women’s event, it will contain a couple of new features. First, this event is going to place at the historic Korakuen Hall. This is notable because it will be the fist all women’s kickboxing event held at the famous venue since 1996. This could indicate that Rise’s efforts are paying off and the divisions are getting more popular. Second, this event is going to be the first event where the women will use smaller 4 ounce gloves in matches under 50kg. This is likely an attempt to increase the number of finishes. If you remember, the promotion had KO bonuses in the women’s tournament last year and former champion and promoter Erika Kamimura has repeatedly commented that she is interested in putting together exciting fights.
Rise champion Hinata Terayama has been slated to headline the upcoming event in a match against fellow champion Manazo Kobayashi. As a teammate of Tenshin Nasukawa, the 20 year old Terayama came to prominence in 2019 when she won the inaugural Rise Mini-Flyweight championship. Since then, she has amassed a record of 19-2-1 and won the Rise Queen of Queens Tournament in 2020. She has also defeated some of the more prominent fighters in her division, including former champion Momi (3xs) and the Shoot Boxer Misaki. More recently, in May she defeated Kamimura’s protege, Akari, in an exciting bout.
In this upcoming match, Kobayashi will be coming down from 52kg (115lbs) to face Terayama at 49.5kg (109lbs). When asked about the weight difference, Terayama commented that she hasn’t really thought it about that much, but that she’s been working on developing her power recently and she feels that since she’s gained some muscle mass, she can make sure she won’t lose because of a power difference. When asked about the smaller gloves, she commented that she’d seen the gloves at the gym and thought that they were cute and looked like a child’s gloves. Continuing on, she noted that the she thinks the smaller gloves will lead to a different way of fighting.
In discussing the significance of this champion versus champion match, Rise chairman Takashi Ito stated that he thinks the winner of this fight will move to the next level. In many ways, due to her success in the ring, Terayama has already become on of the faces of the promotion. It is likely that a win against the bigger Kobayashi would only raise her stock. Since the fight will be streamed, it is also possible that an exciting performance could lead to other possibilities. At 49.5kg, the young kickboxer, who has competed in Shoot Boxing before, is around the same weight as Rena, who will likely have another kickboxing or Shoot Boxing match before she retires. A big win could put Terayama in a situation where this type of fight becomes a possibility.
Rise Girls Power 5 will take place on September 12th at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The event will stream on Abema TV and Fite TV.
Full Card
- 49kg Champion Hinata Terayama vs 52kg Champion Manazo Kobayashi (49.5kg, 109lbs)
- Koyuki Miyazaki vs Saya Ito (46.5kg, 102.5lbs)
- Koto Hiraoka vs Nana Okuwaki (46kg, 101.5lbs)
- Yaya Weerasakreck vs Akari (52kg, 115lbs)
- Haruka Asai vs Yuka Murakami (57.5kg, 127lbs)
- Misaki Shimada vs Ayaka Nishihara (43kg, 95lbs)
- Tomomi Yamamoto vs Wakana Tsuji (52kg, 115lbs)
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