Honoka Shigeta to defend title against Sugiyama -

This Sunday, Pancrase’s newly crowned Flyweight champion Honoka Shigeta will defend her title for the first time. Across the cage from her will be Shizuka Sugiyama, her biggest challenge to date. As a veteran of 30 fights and having competed against some of the best in Japan, like Rin Nakai and Kana Watanabe, Sugiyama stands in stark contrast to Honoka, who is a relative new-comer to the sport, who just made her debut in April of last year. However, despite her relative inexpereince, Honoka’s climb through the ranks has been impressive. Not only has she put together a perfect 4-0 record, she also won a title in one of the world’s oldest and most respected promotions just 11 months into her career. Sunday’s bout will not only be her first defense, it will likely be her last, at least at Flyweight, since in the lead-up to the fight, she made it clear that she intends to drop back down to Strawweight, her natural weight-class. In this article, we look into the young champion’s background and what lies ahead for her.

Joining the Judo Team

When Honoka was in elementary school, she started to notice that her older brother disappeared at the same time everyday. Initially she didn’t think much of it, thinking that he was going to their grandparents or something, but eventually, as the disappearances continued, curiosity go the better of her and she asked her mom where he was going. This is when she learned that he had been going to Judo practice. Since her friends were also starting to join sport’s teams and other after school clubs, she decided that she wanted to join her brother. However, her mother didn’t take this well, not liking the idea of her daughter doing Judo. But, instead of outright refusing, she issued a challenge: If Honoka entered the upcoming local Sumo tournament and placed, she’d let her join her brother. Not one to step down from a challenge, Honoka entered the tournament and placed third, earning her mom’s permission in the process.

Having earned the right to take part, Honoka joined the Judo team in 4th grade and competed all the way through high school. Things didn’t come easy for he though as she didn’t win a single match for 2 years, until she was in 6th grade. However, despite suffering injuries, some of which required surgery, Honoka eventually started to do well in local tournaments, peaking with a 2nd place finish at the Tokyo Tournament when she was in high school.

Honoka after she won her first Judo match, via her Twitter

Transitioning to MMA

When Honoka was 14, she saw MMA for the first time when her dad started watching it on New Year’s Eve. It was Kanna Asakura versus Rena and Kanna choked her opponent unconcious in dramatic fashion, winning Rizin’s first women’s grand-prix in the process. Afterwards, Kanna received the belt and trophy, and Ougikobu carried her around the ring on his shoulders in front of close to 20,000 people at the legendary Saitama Super Arena. This made a big impression on Honoka, who up till then had been competing in Judo tournaments where numerous matches take place at the same time in crowded gymnasiums, with all the athletes vying for attention. When she saw Kanna win, it was just Kanna, Rena, and the referee in front of everyone, and this excited her. Later, she told her dad that after she finished with Judo, she planned to switch to MMA. Something he didn’t take seriously.

Honoka rolling with Karen, Sogo-Kaku (c)

After she graduated from high school, Honoka temorarily got a job, but that didn’t last long and she quit. Later that year, she went to and joined Paraestra Kashiwa, the gym where Kanna Asakura, her MMA idol, trained. However, her parents didn’t like her decision to pursue MMA. They tried to relay to her how difficult it would be to support herself and in response to this she made a promise to them. She didn’t want to work and train, thinking this would slow her down, so Honoka asked her parents for two years. One year with which to make her pro-debut and another to become financially independent. True to her word, she made her amateur debut 3 months later, her pro-debut 4 months after that, and won the Pancrase title 11 months after that.

Training with her idol and more

As mentioned above, Honoka joined Paraestra Kashiwa, now called The Blackbelt Japan, because her idol Kanna Asakura trained there. Yet, when she first started training there, Kanna was in the middle of a break, so she didn’t actually train with her until she’d been going there for about a month. When Kanna returned, they started training together and then 4 months into her training then UFC Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko arrived and held her training camp there. Despite her inexperience and a constant feeling of being overpowered and overwhelmed, Honoka trained with Valentina almost everyday, something that she credits with helping build her mental fortitude. Even now, when Honoka gets nervous before a fight, her coach and Kanna tell her not to worry, there is no way her opponent’s as tough as Valentina, a sentiment that Honoka agrees with. Outside of Kanna and Valentina, Honoka’s also able to train with other top fighters like Karen, the former Pancrase champion, and Rei Tsuraya, the undefeated prospect who just won his UFC debut.

Training with Asakura has clearly had a big impact on Honoka, who credits Asakura as the reason why she decided to get into MMA in the first place. Her respect for her was on full display when she placed her belt on Kanna’s shoulder after winning it, thanking her in the process.

Her next goal, Seika Izawa

Honoka has made it known that she wants to fight for Rizin, she wants to fight at the famed Saitama Super Arena, and she wants to face Seika Izawa, the current consensus number 1 ranked female fighter in Japan. This at least partially explains why she’s decided to drop back down to Strawweight. While Rizin doesn’t have a Strawweight division, Izawa is the Deep Jewels Strawweight Champion. Also, Rizin’s played host to Strawweight bouts in the past, so it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Honoka could get a fight there. She’s even mentioned her desire to convince them to make a Strawweight title for her. In an interesting twist, it is also worth noting that Seika and Honoka use the same kanji for their names, the symbols for star and flower, 星花, perhaps hinting at some destined showdown between the two.

If Honoka does drop down to Strawweight, she will likely have her eyes on the upcoming Pancrase Strawweight title fight between Salt and Fujino, both of whom have fought in Rizin before. If she manages to win that title, fighting in Rizin becomes a real possibility. Whatever her future holds, this weekend’s bout with Sugiyama promises to be an exciting match between one of Japan’s up-and-comers and one of it’s true veterans of the sport. This Sunday’s bout will answer the question of if Honoka can overcome this challenge and continue her rapid ascent or whether Sugiyama can show that age is just a number and win her first championship.