This Saturday, Rizin returns to Kobe with Landmark 9 where one of their stars, Rena, is set to return after suffering a knee injury in her loss to Claire Lopez last April. To date, Rena has yet to lose two in a row, and having gone to Thailand to train for this fight with Miki Motono, she looks to be highly motivated.
However, across the cage from Rena will be Yuri Shim, who won the Road FC championship in her last fight, back in September of 2021. While Shim hasn’t been actively competing in MMA, she’s been training, taking part in crossfit, and can be seen on Netflix’s reality show Physical:100, where she made waves by calling out and defeating a man in a “Death Match.” We had a chance to chat with the South Korean striker and learn a little about her ahead of Saturday.
Getting in Martial Arts
Unlike her opponent who started in 6th grade, Yuri got a relatively late start in martial arts, first picking up Wushu-Sanda when she was 21. However, despite her late start, she threw herself into it and in a desire to further improve her striking, she started competing in boxing, kickboxing, and Muay Thai, where she fought for the Korean national team and won a silver medal at the World Martial Arts Masterships in 2016.
In 2017, Yuri made her pro MMA debut and defeated Shiho Harada at Road FC 36, where now Rizin superstars Mikuru Asakura and Kai Asakura also picked up wins. When asked about what attracted her to MMA in the first place, Yuri told us, “I wanted to compete in the strongest martial art, so that’s why I got interested. In boxing and kickboxing you only strike, but in MMA you also do wrestling and jiu-jitsu, so you have to do everything.” She also mentioned that in the past she wanted to be a soldier so she thought this would be good preparation.
Returning to MMA
When asked about why she hasn’t fought since winning the Road FC title back in 2021, Yuri told us because she partially retired. Road FC wanted her to face Park again and she wasn’t interested in facing the same opponent again, for the third-time, back-to-back-to-back. She wanted to face non-Korean fighters and test herself on the world’s stage. If she couldn’t do that, she wasn’t interested in fighting.
While she told people around her that she was retired, she tells us that she never stopped training. She knew that an opportunity might arise so she kept at it. She also picked up crossfit and competed in some of the biggest tournaments around Korea with good results.
A Fresh Start
One thing that Yuri said several times throughout our chat was that she feels like this is a new beginning for her, like she is making her debut again. While this isn’t her debut, she is coming back to active competition after 3 years and is making her Rizin debut, where she will be fighting on the global stage for the first time, under a new rule-set, so it’s easy to see how she can feel that way.
Now that she’s in Rizin, she tells us she’s looking to become the champion, and to any that may doubt her, she points to her Road FC championship. When she first joined Road FC she said the same thing and a lot of people doubted her. This doubt fueled her, she tells us, and pushed her to prove those naysayers wrong. She feels the same now. If anything, she welcomes the doubt, telling us it motivated her more than someone believing in her.
When asked about competing under RIzin’s ruleset, Yuri told us that it feels fresh and new so she’s looking forward to it. She added that she likes the idea of being able to soccer kick any jiu jitsu fighters that just wanna lay down.
Fighting in Japan
It is important to note that while Yuri hasn’t fought for Rizin before, she has fought in Japan twice. The first time, she tells us, was a last minute affair and she didn’t have time to prep since she had to lose weight. She even had to cut weight on the plane ride over. Overall, it was really tough and she lost, but when the second offer came around, she pushed herself really hard and was able to get the KO. She tells us that she’s looking forward to fighting in Japan again and since she’s never been to Kobe before she’s looking forward to doing some sightseeing, getting ramen, and having a cold beer after the fight.
Facing Rena
When Yuri steps into the cage on Saturday, it’ll be against a fighter she looks up to, telling us that she thought Rena was the best striker in Japan when she was an amateur. She’s wanted to face her and feels like she has nothing to lose, there is no pressure going into this fight. She’s imagined this day for so long that now that it’s becoming a reality, she feels like she’s really reached the global stage and that she’s starting at a new level of her career.
Rizn Landmark 9 will be available on Rizin.tv. Internationally it will be available from March 27th.
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