Hiromasa Ougikubo is 38-years-old and has, as soon as once more, confirmed that age is only a quantity, by underscoring that he is likely one of the world’s elite flyweights. After capturing not simply the Rizin flyweight belt but in addition successful on the RFF 125-pound grand prix, when requested what he would credit score for his longevity within the sport the place he nonetheless thrives at such a excessive degree, Ougikubo mentioned [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Altering and adjusting my coaching based mostly off of my age. I feel that’s the key to longevity…. Yeah, so for an instance, my sparring periods on battle camp have went down considerably. Like virtually below half in comparison with once I was youthful. So with that mentioned, the wear and tear and tear and injury in my physique just isn’t that vital. There isn’t any construct up from observe and sparring. I stretch my physique out loads.”
Ougikubo was additionally beforehand the Rizin bantamweight Grand Prix champion in 2021. When requested how a lot of a capstone achievement it’s to have gained RFF Grand Prix championships in a number of weight divisions, Ougikubo acknowledged [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yeah, so again in 2021, once I gained the bantamweight Grand Prix, , bantamweight just isn’t my weight class, . For me to have the ability to win vital titles in my weight class is one thing that sort of [solidifies] what I’ve been doing all through my profession. I might say concludes one thing.”
“Rizin flyweight division is a minimum of the UFC’s flyweight division”, per Hiromasa Ougikubo
Whereas playfully referencing that he proposed to his associate after the 2021 Rizin Combating Federation GP win, and the way that element was absent from his RFF NYE 2025 grand prix victory, Ougikubo quipped [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yeah, so there wasn’t a proposal on the finish like final time, in fact. However I actually needed to deliver my household into the ring after the battle however that didn’t occur. However for me that battle, the ultimate, the battle towards [Yuki] Motoya, I feel it was a fantastic battle. We had been in a position to deliver all of it. We confirmed all of it, we went face to face, toe to toe.”
“We gave all of it and I feel it was a fantastic battle that; we fought our spirits off. With the ability to win such a troublesome, gritty battle, that itself means loads to me. However, , extra so with the ability to get that belt round my waist, that meant greater than something.”
With 125 kilos being his extra pure weight class, attending to be a part of one other nice New 12 months’s Eve present that has such a wealthy custom through the years in Japan, and chatting with the concept that this will need to have been a large second for him on that sort of a giant stage, Ougikubo mentioned [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yeah, clearly it was a fantastic second and it was a fantastic accomplishment. My objective for me going ahead is that I need to proceed to boost the worth of this Rizin flyweight belt, . My objective is to make Rizin’s flyweight division one thing that may go face to face towards the UFC flyweight division, . That’s my objective as a champion. So, , I need to make folks perceive and know that the extent of competitors within the Rizin flyweight division is a minimum of the UFC’s flyweight division.”
