Taisei Sakuraba hopes to observe in his father’s footsteps at RIZIN: Decade later this week.
The younger ‘Saku Jr.’ will make his MMA debut on RIZIN’s end-of-the-year present later this week. The bout will likely be Taisei Sakuraba’s first within the ring, however he’s no stranger to fight sports activities. His father is the legendary PRIDE fighter and UFC Corridor of Famer, Kazushi Sakuraba. ‘The Gracie Hunter’ fought anybody and everybody, usually accepting fights in opposition to opponents bigger, and extra skilled than himself.
Nicely, evidently Taisei Sakuraba plans to observe in his father’s footsteps. The 26-year-old will make his first stroll to the ring, to face the skilled Yusuke Yachi this week. The light-weight has challenged for RIZIN gold previously and enters the bout holding wins over the likes of Takanori Gomi, Daron Cruickshank, and Koji Takeda.
Taisei Sakuraba is properly conscious of the problem that he’s going to must cope with at RIZIN 49. Talking in a current interview with MMA Preventing, ‘Saku Jr.’ opened up on his upcoming bout in opposition to Yachi. There, Sakuraba admitted that he thought the bout could be a bit an excessive amount of for his debut. Nevertheless, he’s glad he accepted the combat.
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Taisei Sakuraba opens up forward of MMA debut at RIZIN: Decade in opposition to Yusuke Yachi
A longtime grappler, Taisei Sakuraba believes the bout will assist put his identify on the map. A heavy betting underdog, the 26-year-old hopes to shock followers later this week in opposition to Yachi. Whereas Sakuraba is aware of the combat received’t be simple, he believes it’s the very best path to stardom.
“I used to be pondering possibly it was an excessive amount of of a shortcut in a means.” Taisei Sakuraba said within the interview by means of a translator. “However as soon as it was confirmed, I form of thought of it. I simply form of got here to my sense and stated hey, I obtained to do it. You know the way there are specific facets with a view to grow to be a star, and a kind of facets are successful fights that individuals assume that you simply’re going to lose.” (h/t MMA Preventing)
He continued, “For my debut combat, I feel it’s going to positively be a problem for me. However, I feel if I can beat this opponent if I come out as a winner after this combat, persons are going to essentially assume totally different about me. It’s positively going to place my identify on the map. So in that sense, I’m very excited to see how a lot I can do.”
What do you make of those feedback from Taisei Sakuraba? Are you excited for his RIZIN debut?