cjsreport

Yes, I move slower these days haha

Looks like she went out of her way to win by choke

I am going to write an article about Saya and am going to ask her some questions. If any of you would like to ask her a question about her or muay thai in Japan, feel free to post below.

From what I understand, you can only take the test once a year. If you are going to a public school, generally the better schools in Japan, you will also have to pass a school specific exam. Unlike the U.S., a lot of the tests are scheduled within a small time frame limiting how many schools you can apply to. It's kind of interesting, the students who don't get in and choose to retake the test are called "ronin", which is a term for masterless samurai aka 47 Ronin. Something like 40% of students accepted to top universities are ronin in Japan. To put it into perspective, most companies and the government in Japan hire exclusively from certain schools, making the school you get into very important for your future. Especially since most people in Japan will only work for one company. The exams take place mid to late January.

No problem, Saya is fun to talk to. Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for asking some questions

Saya's coach posted this picture, with a link to a Japanese translation of the article. He commented that Saya will return perfectly because she doesn't want to have any regrets, that she will fight for a long time, and that she will climb to the top of the Muay Thai world. LadyGo! commented that it is a little late for her to still be thinking about taking the college entrance exams and that those might already be off the table for serious consideration

I completed the interview with Saya Ito, which you can read here. Thank you to those who asked questions! Sorry if I didn't ask your question but she is unsure about a lot of things since she is graduating soon, so questions about future fights and opponents probably would have gotten similar answers. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the questions, I'll try to ask as many of them as I can

Hello everyone! I've been having a conversation with Saya bout her injury and the what happened to her WPMF championship. For those that don't know, Saya is a talented Muay Thai fighter from Japan who has fought in both Japan and Thailand. I was just wondering if anyone wanted to ask Saya a question, she doesn't speak any English so take advantage of this opportunity. Some Background information on Saya: Interview 2016 Goals

I feel like there are so many combat sports in the U.S. now that die hards aside, it is difficult for muay thai to garner attention. The ufc is pumping out product, plus there is boxing, EBI, Glory and now Bellator competing just to get noticed.

I remember reading before the fight, that Rena had pulled out of her Shoot Boxing match a month earlier because she had injured her hand. Apparently during the fight, she re-injured her hand, which they had thought might happened. After the fight, she goes over to the announcer's booth and shakes a man with a shaved heads hand. His name is Rumina Sato and he once won by flying armbar in like 5 seconds. He taught her the move. Gabi's fight was crazy, on numerous levels. It was a fun event. Some college student entered the ring and said she wanted to be the next Ronda Rousey. She is apparently an olympic caliber wrestler.

No matches have been announced. Rena's fight was a fun watch, I recommend it. I agree with you about Gabi

Did you see Rena's last fight for them?

Looks like Rena will be a part of the next Rizin show

Sounds like there are some similarities. You see it in other aspects of Japanese culture, there is some kind of christmas cake joke they have, which essentially boils down to christmas cake is no good after the 25th (aka no one will marry you after 25) Seeing certain fighters return to the ring has been uplifting, I agree that it seems that fighters who are returning either have spouses involved in martial arts or very understanding spouses. Plus with Ronda Rousey making waves as to how much female fighters can make, it seems that more women are interested in fighting. It seems that in the U.S., fighters are able to keep fighting after they marry, but that may just be the minority that is fighting in major promotions. On a positive note, so many famous fighters in Japan have recently had babies / will be having babies. I couldn't believe it when I was over there. It seemed like everyone I texted to meet up with was pregnant or had just had a kid. So, a lot of future badasses out there. I am interested to see what Sylvie or someone with experience in Thailand can say about the matter

I was wondering if this was strictly a Japanese phenomena or is it the case in Thailand or other countries that female fighters tend to retire upon marriage or motherhood? In my observations, it used to be a seemingly set rule that if she wants to keep fighting, she can't get married. In essence, by fighting she was sacrificing having a family. Actually, a more accurate explanation would be that what she is doing is seen as a hobby and that when real life begins, it is time to give that hobby up. Examples: - Erika Kamimura started dating, retired shortly afterwards. (cited medical reasons) - Rena, has stated in blogs that she cannot date (especially around Valentines Day) - Mika Nagano, retired upon marriage - Megumi Fujii, married after retirement - Miku Matsumoto, retired upon marriage - Saya Ito, will probably retire upon high school graduation Recently fighters have been returning to the ring though - Saori Ishioka (Husband owns dojo) - Satoko Shinashi (Husband owns dojo) - Hisae Watanabe (Offered a lot of money) Two thoughts are that women who marry fighters are more prone to return to the ring and that money may be playing a factor. Until recently, female fighters haven't been offered a lot of money and maybe them training was a luxury they couldn't afford to maintain. My main inclination though is that it is cultural. This post is not meant to disparage women who choose to retire for whatever reason, I was just noticing a common occurrence.

Interesting. I would have thought the experience with her father would have turned her away from suicide. I also find it difficult to read that without rolling my eyes at the mention of Travis Browne.

It popped up, maybe there is a review / approval period

I think I wrote a review, I don't know if there is a waiting period before it appears or not. But like the above post it is not currently appearing.

They are both natural 100 lbers,that's the problem

Anyone else see her return to mma last night at WSOF? I thought it was a quick stoppage BUT she has ridiculous power. I remember hearing old boxing trainers say the one thing you can't teach is KO power,you either have it or you don't. The fight was at 105 but Watanabe could have easily made 100

I was mistaken, Saya had nothing to do with the fight. She was surprised when she saw the news. I asked Rika's dad, who is Thai, and he seems to like Jaa. He will keep offering her fights in Japan as long as she wins

Back to your question about opponents, she has close connections to people in the US. She may not get a high caliber opponent, but she could probably get a fight through them

If Jaa crushes her opponent she should attempt to get in the 48kg S-Cup and dominate it like Buakaw did

I didn't get any feel from her about Jaa, I thought she would want to talk about her more, but as you probably know she isn't overly talkative. I know that she likes Jaa and I would guess that she is responsible for Jaa getting the fight whether directly or indirectly. If I had to guess, it seems like she is more interested in titles before she retires. Rika just retired and her dad is that promoter. He likes to mix women's fights into his cards and maybe looking for a new fighter to highlight. Foreign fighters can become very popular in Japan. I imagine her proximity to Japan, the yen to baht exchange rate, her age, and her skill level appeal to him as a promoter