This Sunday, Pancrase will return to Yokohama for the first time since 2014. The show, Pancrase 330, will feature some of the promotions bright young stars, including their Strawweight champion Karen, Sayako, who is likely responsible for the promotion announcing that they will crown their first Atomweight champion in 2023, and the 20 year old Rei Tsuraya, who is fighting for the Flyweight championship. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is highly possible that these three may all be Pancrase champions next year. Ahead of the event, we had a chance to sit down and chat with Karen, who told us she’s looking to turn Christmas into a blood-fest. Something the striker with the slicing-elbows is more than capable of delivering.
Who is Karen?
Like the other members of Team Pravajra, Karen is one of the more interesting and unique fighters on the Japanese scene today. Originally a member of the enigmatic Team Date, Karen formed a new team with her brother and sister early in 2021. Currently, they all compete for Pancrase and all train almost exclusively together, with her older brother, Darani, serving as the coach. Like her older siblings, Karen uses what can best be described as a Taekwondo based style, where she throws a lot of side kicks, hook kicks, and teeps. However, what sets Karen apart is her elbows. So far, she’s used them to finish two opponents, including Emi Fujino in their title match. This has led her to make comments like, “My elbow thirsts for blood” and “it’s gonna be a blood festival.”
At just 19, Karen is one of the youngest promotional champs in Japan and has quickly become the face of the women in Pancrase. As for her future goals, she’s made it clear that she wants to compete abroad and be a UFC champion one day. Historically, getting into the UFC doesn’t seem so far-fetched, as Pancrase has a long history of their champions going to the UFC. The problem is that there aren’t a lot of top-level strawweights in Japan at the moment. However, in the past, Pancrase has brought fighters from abroad to help and with the COVID restrictions loosening, this seems like a possibility again. Outside of bringing foreign talent in, matchups with Mika Nagano or Emi Tomimatsu could be interesting at this stage of her career.
How to Watch
- Join the Pancrase Youtube Channel
The Fight Card
- Satoru Enomoto vs Rei Tsuraya
- Tokitaka Nakanishi vs Jae Hyuk Bang
- Tatsuya ‘Yanbo’ Saika vs Shyudi Yamauchi
- Toshinori ‘Tsune’ Tsunemura vs Ryo Tajima
- Karen vs Haruka ‘Salt’ Hasegawa
- Masatoshi ‘Masatatsu’ Ueda vs Seiichiro Ito
- Issei Tamura vs Ryo Asami
- Kota ‘Osuman’ Shirakawa vs Genpei Hayashi
- Akihiro Murayama vs Hiroki Nagaoka
- Ryo Takagi vs Suguru ‘Comba Oji’ Nii
- Yuki Okano vs Yusuke Kasuya
- Rui Imura vs Kenta Sakuma
- Sayako Fujita vs Jenny ‘Lady Gogo’ Huang
- Yasutaka Kato vs Takuya Kuramoto
- Ryo Yazawavs vs Kaito Kimoto
- Sodai Mitobe vs Omito Kanazawa
- Reo Yamaguchi vs Arashi Okada
English 
Japanese