Mizuki returns this Sunday, plus weekly round-up

This Saturday in Las Vegas, Mizuki Inoue is set to make her long awaited return to the octagon after a three year absence. For those that don’t know, Mizuki injured her left knee in 2020 and after undergoing surgery and rehab in the U.S., she continued her recovery and training in Japan. Now she’s ready to compete again and Hannah Goldy is set to welcome her back. We had a chance to speak with her ahead of this fight and get her thoughts on her opponent as well as her long-awaited return.

Training in Japan

It may seem odd at first to point out that a Japanese fighter is training in Japan, but in Mizuki’s case it is worth noting, since she trained exclusively in the U.S. from some time in 2018 to January of 2022. Before that, she trained in Toyohashi, a city of about 375,000 people that’s close to a 4 hour drive away from the capital. In other words, she’s never trained in Tokyo before, where she prepared for this fight. Thankfully, Mizuki’s friend and training partner Kanako Murata is also in Tokyo and was able to introduce her to Me, We, where she was able to train with fighters Shizuka Sugiyama and some other foreign flyweights. In addition to Me, We, she also trained at Cute Gym, Yuki Yasunaga’s gym.

Naturally, after training in the U.S. for 4 years, training in Japan meant getting used to a different training culture. For example, in Japan, fighters have to train at multiple places, like a BJJ school, a boxing gym, and an MMA gym, whereas when she was in New York, she did almost all her training at Serra Longo. She also told us that the biggest difference was the lack of a head coach. When she was at Serra Longo, Ray Longo was her head coach and that meant he was a Mizuki expert. He set her schedule and since most of her training was done at Serra Longo, he saw her train and knew her condition. He knew what she needed to work on and knew when she needed to take it easy or when she needed to train hard. This is in contrast to Japan, where since fighters train at different places, there isn’t someone who sees all your training besides yourself. Also, when you train, there really isn’t a head coach at the gym, it is more like the gyms have skilled fighters who you can learn from.

It wasn’t just the training that Mizuki had to adjust to, it was also living in Tokyo. When she was in Toyohashi she drove everywhere and in Tokyo everyone uses public transportation, a complicated system of subways, trains, and buses. Not only that, if you dare to travel during rush hour, you better hope you aren’t claustrophobic, because the trains are packed to the point of bursting. These were things she struggled to deal with in the beginning, but now she’s adapted and tells us she’s had a lot of new experiences thanks to living in the big city.

Facing Hannah

When we asked Mizuki what she thought of her upcoming opponent, she told us that Hannah’s a physically strong, aggressive fighter who’s strength lays in her grappling. She went on to add that sometimes Hannah isn’t able to get her opponent down so she clinches and strikes, which is kind of how Mizuki sees this fight playing out. Hannah’s bigger, having fought at flyweight in the past, so Mizuki thinks she might come forward pretty aggressively and try to strike and clinch, especially since Mizuki hasn’t fought in three years. However, she could also see Hannah trying to use her reach and strike from the outside. Whatever the case, she told us that she thinks she’s mentally stronger and that after not being able to fight for 3 years, she’s going to win this one for those who’ve supported her and waited to see her fight again.

Going into the fight, Mizuki admits that she’s nervous, well she’s 50% nervous, 50% excited. She hasn’t been able to fight in a long time and if all goes well, she’d like to make up for lost time and fight again this year. She also would like to go back to the U.S. to train, telling us she’d like to go to either Las Vegas or New York.

Last week’s news, today

Deep

  • Deep 115 went down on Monday, and despite a strong start, Deep lost to Black Combat again, with the South Korean promotion winning 2 Deep and 1 Deep Jewels title in the process. Overall, Black Combat won the series 5-2.
  • Seika Izawa and Moeri Suda have both already called for a title fight with Park.

Deep vs Black Combat Results

Pancrase

  • Pancrase announced a women’s Atomweight Tournament that will crown the first Atomweight Queen of Pancrase. The opening round is set to take place on 12.24 in Yokohama, with the finals set for March of next year. So far, Zenny Huang, Sayako, and Satomi Takano have been announced, with one more fighter to be announced at a later date.
  • Pancrase also announced that up-and-coming flyweight Honoka, who trains out of Paraestra, will face the former boxer Raika on 11.12.
  • Suguru Nii will face Shinsuke Kamei for the vacant Featherweight title on this upcoming Sunday, the 24th, at Pancrase 337. Former champion Karen is also set to fight on the card. You should also keep an eye on Rui Imura and Naoki Hirata who is taking on the tough Raiki Endo.

Shooto

  • The bouts for their 10.21 Shooto Gig Tokyo Vol.35 show were announced. More fights are expected to be announced as they are planning for 13 total.

Rise

  • Rise announced that the Rise New Warriors Super Flyweight Tournament will be held at Rise 173 on 11.18, where the winner will win 1 million yen and a title match against Kazuki Osaki.
  • At Rise 173, Mini Flyweight Champion Erika will face Arina Kobayashi. Erika, who had shoulder surgery last year, returned in August. Kobayashi is currently riding a 4 fight win streak.

Knockout

  • Knockout announced that their November 5th Tournament, Knock Out 2023 Vol. 5, will be held under a new format, with all fighters wearing open-finger gloves. They will also implement a KO bonus of 300,000円 available to all outside the main event, where the bonus will be 1,000,000円 instead.
  • Former producer Misura Mata resigned and returned to K-1. He had been at Knock Out since 2020 and is now the producer of Krush.

Rizin

  • Rizin made some announcements about Landmark 7, their first show outside Japan.

The following fights were announced

ONE

  • Takeru announced on social media that he is currently training in the U.S. ahead of his next fight.

Tenshin

  • Tenshin participated in his second boxing match, defeating Luis Guzman 80-70 on all three judges’ score cards after 8 rounds. Guzman is the current Mexican Bantamweight Champion. He was a replacement, as Tenshin’s original opponent, Flores, was sick with the Corona virus.
  • Tenshin knocked Guzman down in the first with a counter left, in the 3rd with a body punch, and again in the 7th.
  • Tenshin also mentioned after the fight that he injured his left hand early on, on what he thinks might have been his 4th punch.

Breaking Down

  • In a testament to the promotion’s popularity and ability to make stars, Masanari Iida, who became popular from Breaking Down, tweeted about an old man punching the toilet door while he was in there. As of now, the tweet has been viewed 15.4 million times. The personality has over 66 million views on Youtube.
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