Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Kanako Murata vs Kyra Batara

Here's the match video of Kanako Murata vs Kyra Batara from Sunday's RIZIN show. There were three women's matches on this show but I thought the other two were a waste of time. The interest in RIZIN is mostly PRIDE nostalgia because it's owned by the same guy. So he does a lot of the same gimmicky stuff. Of course the problem is it's hard to take them seriously. The thing I like about Murata is she's not a gimmick. She's a highly decorated amateur wrestler. Kanako was recruited to RIZIN by multiple time Olympic gold medal wrestler Saori Yoshida. She works for RIZIN. So Kanako agreed to go into MMA because Yoshida is her idol. She made her debut on the April RIZIN show and she also won over Maia Stevenson on a King of the Cage show in California. She's the daughter of legendary trainer Joe Stevenson. And he also trains Kyra Batara. She normally fights for Combate Americas and they think she's a big star. So I thought it was a big risk to send her to Japan to fight Kanako who has looked great so far. And the fight went as I expected. One of the flaws of RIZIN is using a ring instead of a cage. Again that is the PRIDE influence. Several times during this match it looked like Kyra was trying to get out of the ring. Obviously she's used to a cage. Kanako won easily by unanimous decision. Afterwards, she challenged Rin Nakai to a match. She explained that Rin is the best fighter in Japan and she wants to fight the best. But Rin fights at a different weight class and Rin works for PANCRASE. So it's not happening. Most of the other female fighters in Japan work for DEEP JEWELS. So I expect RIZIN to continue to bring over gaijin fighters to fight Kanako. But she is already frustrated with the competition level. At some point, something has to give. The other two women's fights were gimmick fights. Brazilian heavyweight BJJ whiz Gabi Garcia easily beat football player Destanie Yarbrough. Finding opponents for Gabi won't get any easier. And SHOOT BOXING "it" girl RENA easily beat Miyu Yamamoto using a submission she might have used in SHOOT BOXING. Miyu was debuting at age 42 and her son fought on the show. Until RENA quits SHOOT BOXING, it's hard to take her seriously as an MMA fighter. She has a SHOOT BOXING match coming up in November. There are rumours that she might quit SB at that time. If that happens, that changes things. So you can watch the gimmick matches on Youtube. But I think Kanako Murata has potential and I hope RIZIN doesn't waste that potential. Enjoy the video.