Taisei Sakuraba opens up on decision to face 41-fight veteran in RIZIN debut: „It’s going to be definitely a challenge“

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 towards opponents bigger, and extra skilled than himself.

Nicely, plainly 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 up to now 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 towards Yachi. There, Sakuraba admitted that he thought the bout may be a bit an excessive amount of for his debut. Nevertheless, he’s glad he accepted the struggle.

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Taisei Sakuraba opens up forward of MMA debut at RIZIN: Decade towards 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 towards Yachi. Whereas Sakuraba is aware of the struggle gained’t be straightforward, 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 manner.” Taisei Sakuraba acknowledged within the interview by a translator. “However as soon as it was confirmed, I form of considered it. I simply form of got here to my sense and stated hey, I bought to do it. You understand how there are particular points with a view to turn into a star, and a kind of points are successful fights that folks assume that you just’re going to lose.” (h/t MMA Preventing)

He continued, “For my debut struggle, 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 struggle, individuals are going to essentially assume completely 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?