2016 Olympic bronze medallist Natalia “Kuzya” Kuziutina secured her tenth straight victory in very dominant fashion tonight at Rizin Fighting Federation: “Super Rizin 5” in Osaka, Japan. The Russian judoka easily spoiled the homecoming of Rizin star Rena Kubota in a 49kg super atomweight bout.
Tonight’s matchup was a part of the ongoing “invisible” title tournament to determine challengers for the vacant Rizin FF Women’s Super Atomweight Championship. Kuziutina made a strong case for herself to be in contention for the belt, as she battered and finished Kubota in the second round.
Kuziutina (11-1-0) targeted the heavily-bandaged left knee of Kubota (15-7-0) with two early kicks before swarming Kubota with uppercuts and pushing her down to the mat. Kuziutina kneed Kubota’s head and then pinned her in a corner. She took Kubota down once more and used more knees to set up an armbar late in the round. Kubota’s right eye was rapidly swelling up between rounds and replays showed that the fighters had clashed heads during one of the brief striking exchanges on the feet.
Kuziutina scored an immediate takedown in the second round and then resumed kneeing Kubota in the head; this time from North-South position. She continued this until she was able to secure a one-arm guillotine choke from the top. Kuziutina maintained the hold and mounted Kubota, which allowed her to apply further pressure to Kubota’s neck. Kubota had nowhere to go and tapped out to the tight guillotine at the 3:14 mark of round two.
“I’m relieved, and now I can think about what comes next,” Kuziutina said backstage following her win. “I focus only on what I can do, and there is no secret about my training. I just train hard every day. I can compete with anyone, including against Saori [Oshima] who has the same judo background as I do. Rizin’s rules permit knees to the head on the ground, which really fits my style. Adding knees on the ground means that I do not have to rush for a submission.”
While Kuziutina may next find herself in a title fight on New Year’s Eve, Kubota, who has flirted with retirement in recent years after a very long combat sports career in kickboxing, shoot boxing and now MMA, likely saw her Rizin championship aspirations dashed for good. The 35-year-old Kubota, who nearly knocked out Seika Izawa one minute into their title fight on New Year’s Eve, has now dropped back-to-back fights for the first time in her MMA career. She was transported to a nearby hospital and did not speak to media following tonight’s loss.