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Kanako Murata’s Invicta FC title win made her realize her inexperience
One of the UFC’s newest strawweights immediately adds great depth to an already talent-rich division. With the signing of Japan’s Kanako Murata (11-1), the amateur wrestling standout jumps right into the top three when it comes to best wrestlers at 115-pounds.
Nearly perfect in her 12-fights over the course of four years, Murata has continually gotten better and better as she looked for a concrete home between the strawweight and flyweight divisions. In her fifth career fight, she suffered her lone defeat in the latter of the two weight classes to former UFC bantamweight, Rin Nakai. Thus leading to the Matsuya, Ehime Prefecture native to find her home at strawweight.
Seven wins later and she’s now set to make her UFC debut opposite a fellow former Invicta FC champion, and BJJ black belt, Livia Renata Souza at UFC Vegas 14 on November 14.
“I got the offer during the lockdown and it really put me in the focus that I’m finally being able to make it to the start line of the UFC,” Murata told MyMMANews on BROADENED HORIZIN, “So I’m very focused.
“When we fight, the past doesn’t really matter. What I’ve been focusing on, obviously I’ve been studying her. But my main focus is to weigh the level of my basic striking, basic Jiu-Jitsu, and basic wrestling. I’ve been working hard on raising my overall skills as a fighter.”
Unfortunately for anyone making their UFC debut in 2020, circumstances are less than ideal. But perhaps the pressure isn’t as dense as what it would normally be.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, procedures have been altered in numerous ways. One of the most notable being the lack of crowds. This is something that Murata actually looks forward to after growing accustomed to the massive 12,000-plus fan audiences she’d fight in front of inside the RIZIN FF ring.
However, being a resident of her native Japan, the 27-year old has had to alter her training camp as she typically trains fully out of Combat Sports Academy (CSA) in California for her fights.
“Usually I like to set a six to eight-week camp at CSA,” she said, “For this one, I was only able to set up a four-week camp but I’m still going before the fight. But it’s just gonna be shorter. The more time in Japan means that I get to learn more technique over here and I’m definitely evolving and learning new things.”
To earn her spot on the UFC roster, Kanako Murata etched her name into the MMA history books first starting at RIZIN 12.
Taking on a seasoned veteran and former UFC strawweight original in Angela Magana, Murata dominated en route to a Von Flue choke submission in the second round. The maneuver was the second of what would be a four-fight submission streak for the bright prospect. Not only that but by successfully executing the submission, Murata became the first and only female fighter at the time to have done so in a major MMA promotion and only the third in the records of MMA history according to Tapology.
In her fight that followed at RIZIN 15, Murata performed another Von Flue choke and this one was even more impressive than the first. That win over Saray Orozco put Murata side by side with Ovince Saint Preux and Jason Von Flue himself as the only fighters to ever win multiple fights with the choke. The CSA product attributes her strong utilization of the submission to her wrestling base accompanied by finding comfort in sparring partners putting their arms around her neck.
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In addition to Murata’s historic performances, she put herself in rarified air with her most recent outing — her title-winning effort against Emily Ducote at Invicta 38 in November 2019.
By obtaining the gold, Murata joined Ayaka Hamasaki as the only two fighters from Japan to hold titles in North America. An accomplishment that the wrestler is honored to call her own, but she refuses to settle there.
Even in victory, the champ didn’t feel like that label was justified just yet.
“That fight had a lot of first-time experiences,” Murata said of the Ducote bout, “I went five rounds for the first time. And being the outsider fighting in a foreign country for the world title fight, I had all these hurdles mentally to overcome going into the fight and during the fight. I had a feeling I needed to be the aggressor, I needed to keep the fight going, so I had all these obstacles in front of me. So I think at that time I learned how inexperienced I was as a professional fighter. Experiencing the fact that you’re inexperienced was a good experience.”
On November 14, one of Japan’s brightest young stars looks to make a big splash in a crowded pool.
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