Seika Izawa is the greatest female fighter in Japanese MMA history, climbing to a 17-0 record with championships won in DEEP and RIZIN, and has no plans of slowing down. In fact, her goal is to chase all-time
greatness globally.
Izawa will return to the RIZIN ring on the traditional New Years’ Eve show to face popular Japanese fighter Rena Kubota, looking for another successful defense of her atomweight belt. She doesn’t expect another victory, although over a name that has competed under the Bellator banner before, to boost her to the top of pound-for-pound rankings and GOAT lists.
“I definitely need to put my name out there in the international market,” Izawa told MMA Fighting through an interpreter. “I need to fight at the international level, for sure. But the weight classes prevent me. I think the weight class is preventing me from doing so. It’s not a very popular division as of now. So I need to continue to do what I can to be able to have people talk about myself.
“In my point of view, I do believe that the lighter weight classes, as far as for women’s MMA, are more interesting and more entertaining. It shows the dynamics and it shows what women can really do in the lighter weight classes. I think there’s a lot more to show, a lot more that people can see from the smaller weight class. I really hope that the popularity of my division spreads internationally, and we get more contestants so we get to show the appeal of women’s MMA.”
Izawa started her MMA career as a strawweight, winning the DEEP title before dropping down to 108 pounds to kick off her very successful RIZIN run. Victorious in 11 straight bouts with seven finishes to her credit in the company, she has a hard time seeing a future where she goes back to 115 pounds.
“As of right now, I just can’t put on weight so it’s hard for me to commit to fighting at a heavier weight class,” Izawa said. “So as of right now, I think I’m going to stay at atomweight. However, it depends on how things go. If I start to struggle with finding fights and actually making a living at this weight class, I think I’m going to be forced to step up. But it’s all going to depend on how things go. But as of right now, I feel like I’m going to be fighting at atomweight.
Her dream match currently competes at strawweight, though, and that weight discrepancy could stand on the way of making it happen: Seo Hee Ham. The South Korean veteran won 25 of 34 professional bouts and recently revealed she’s a free agent, parting ways with ONE Championship.
“We do compete in a sport where weight classes do exist, so for me, I can’t really wrap my head around that fact,” Izawa said. “If I were to say who do I want to fight, my dream match is — Soo He Ham would be somebody I’d be definitely motivated in fighting.”
Izawa said that naming the greatest woman to ever compete in MMA is “a hard one”, but called PFL featherweight champion Cris Cyborg “definitely very, very, very tough.” The former UFC, Strikeforce, Invicta and Bellator champion was not the one that drove her to compete in the sport, though.
“My biggest inspiration was Kanna Asakura,” Izawa said. “We’re the same age, and I’ve known her from our wrestling days. From my point of view, somebody my same age who I’ve wrestled with, who I knew. She was fighting in this organization called RIZIN and she was very successful and very popular. She’s definitely the reason why I transitioned to MMA and wanted to be an MMA fighter.”
The RIZIN queen fought Asakura in 2024, winning a unanimous decision. However, she doesn’t thought much of that bout as a legacy result.
“In terms of skill set as a fighter, I believe that I was a much more significant fighter, so beating her didn’t really mean much to me,” Izawa said. “But at the time, I faced Miyuu Yamamoto and Kanna Asakura back to back and for both retirement fights, so for me it kind of showed that times are changing and things are moving. That’s kind of how I felt.”
Beating big-name veterans are important, Izawa agrees, but also wants to pile up victories against up-and-comers. As Izawa grows her legacy as a champion, and inspires others to follow that path inside MMA rings and cages, she hopes to crush their dreams in the future.
“I would want to be the biggest obstacle that they’re going to face if they continue to proceed in their profession,” Izawa said of the next generation of the sport. “I want to be this dominant champion who they want to surpass, but it’s not gonna be easy. I would like to be that kind of dominant champion for them. My goal is definitely to put my name on the books of MMA. Like I said, I want to be that obstacle, undefeated, dominant champion as long as I can. For the next 10, 15 years, I would like to continue to be that obstacle for all the future contestants.”
Izawa was aiming to face Kubota in May, when RIZIN: Otoko Matsuri drew 42,706 fans to the Tokyo Dome in Japan, but lamented that Kubota wasn’t healthy to compete at the time.
“I do feel that a lot of the people are excited about this and the anticipation is definitely different,” Izawa said of finally facing Kubota. “I guess in terms of anticipation and people talking about this fight, I think this is definitely one of the biggest ones in the past few years, several years.”
They will finally collide to close out 2025, and Izawa doesn’t foresee an evenly matched contest.
“I think that she’s a striker, and I am more of a grappler who can also strike,” Izawa said. “In terms of total skillset, I have more weapons in my arsenal, for sure. Obviously the fight starts on our feet so we have to strike and we’re gonna have to exchange. In a perfect world, I want to dominate her on my feet as well. I want to prove a point and dominate her where she’s good at and then take her down and submit her.”
