Deep Jewels strawweight contender Machi Fukuda improved to 2-0 under the Rizin banner with a dominant second-round stoppage win tonight at Rizin Fighting Federation 50 in Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan. Fukuda finished Seo Young Park late in the second round of their featured bout.
Fukuda engaged in a striking battle with Park during the opening round of the bout between the 21-year-olds, but she shifted strategies in round two and battered her Korean foe with ground and pound en route to the victory, which extended Fukuda’s current streak of stoppage wins to three.
Fukuda (7-2-0) jabbed early on in the fight and she landed straight left hands, but Park (5-5-0, 1 NC) responded with hard right hooks later in the round and the pace remained high as the fighters worked to figure one another out on the feet. Fukuda landed a solid combination in the final 30 seconds of the back-and-forth round.
The second round began with an early takedown into mount for Fukuda, who landed powerful elbows and knees from the top as Park tried in vain to escape. Fukuda eventually took Park’s back and flattened her out, and the fight was stopped at the 4:04 mark of the second round after Fukuda landed a series of punches to the side of Park’s face as Park turtled and had nowhere to go.
Post-fight, Fukuda thanked Rizin for providing her with the opportunity to compete in a dream fight on a large stage, and she asked the audience to continue to support female strawweights in Rizin. The promotion does not currently have a women’s strawweight title, but Fukuda is one of several talents who has competed for Rizin in recent years and her performance in the second round tonight should ensure that she is brought back again.