This past weekend, Mayweather defeated Mikuru in their exhibition at Super Rizin and Horiguchi defeated Kintaro in his promotional return at Rizin 38. Elsewhere on the cards, kickboxer turned MMA fighter Suzuki picked up his biggest win to date when he submitted Hagiwara and Kim invalidated last years Bantamweight Tournament when he defeated Ougikubo, who likely will not get to fight Horiguchi in the near future. In the semi-finals of the Super Atomweight Grand-Prix, Park picked up her biggest win to date, out striking and even dropping Hamasaki in route to a unanimous decision victory. Izawa for her part, continued her winning ways, submitting Anastasiya near the end of the second route, setting up a rematch with Park in the finals, on New Year’s Eve.
Izawa to rematch Park
Despite losing Rena due to an injury, the tournament so far has gone off without a hitch. Now, a little more than a year after they both fought in Deep, Izawa and Park are set to face each other again, this time on the biggest stage in Japan. When they first met, many felt it was to determine who would go on to compete in Rizin. That Izawa made her debut two months later adds weight to this theory. Now they’ve both defeated the former great. In their first fight, Park badly damaged Izawa’s eye, but the fight was marred by an illegal soccer kick. Despite her eye and the illegal move, Park showed her mental toughness and ground out a victory in what looks to have been her toughest bout to date.
With Park and Izawa set to determine who the best Super Atomweight is, it is still to be determined if the two can become stars. Up till now Rena, Kanna Asakura, and Miyuu Yamamoto have carried the divisions popularity on their shoulders. However, when Oshima and Izawa burst onto the scene, it became clear that a passing of the guard was about to happen. Hamasaki and Miyuu are both in their 40’s, Rena has teased retirement on and off for close to 10 years, and Kanna has also indicated that she may hang up the gloves sometime soon. With this comes an opportunity for some younger fighters to fill the void. If it will be Park or Izawa is still to be seen.
Numbers
Social Media
Current Numbers
- Seika Izawa (Twitter: 14,500) (Instaram: 9,594) (Youtube: 4,060)
- Si Woo Park (Twitter: 2,653) (Instagram: 5,443)
2021 numbers
- Seika Izawa (Twitter: 1,203) (Instagram: 1,182)
- Si Woo Park (Twitter: 127) (Instagram: 2,239)
Google Trends
Social Media
Fights
- Floyd Mayweather vs Mikuru – 6,100,000 + views
- Kyoji Horiguchi vs Kintaro – 2,000,000 + views
- Hagiwara vs Suzuki – 694,000 + views
- Ohara vs Gustavo – 278,000 + views
Post- Fight Interviews
- Mikuru – 1,200,000 +
- Kouzi – 444,000 +
- Mayweather – 356,000 +
- Hagiwara – 273,000 +
- Horiguchi – 181,000 +
- Kintaro – 158,000 +
- Sakakibara – 145,000 +
- Suzuki – 127,000 +
- Ougikubo – 114,000 +
- Hamasaki – 104,000 +
- Jizzy – 109,000 +
- Miura – 73,000 +
- Anastasia – 58,000 +
- Izawa – 53,000 +
- Ohara – 53,000 +
- Kim – 39,000 +
- Nadaka – 34,000 +
- Bandasak – 32,000 +
- Park – 27,000 +
- Gustavo – 25,000 +
- Phonsungnoen – 17,000 +
- Shibisai – 13,000 +
- Gibrainn – 13,000 +
Other
- Day before fight video – Mikuru – 1,100,000 + views
- Post-fight video – Mikuru – 3,400,000 + views
- Ameba Kakuto Channel Video – 3,200,000 + views
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