This coming Saturday at UFC 303, highly touted flyweight prospect Rei Tsuruya will make his full promotional debut, after earning a contract on Road to UFC, and he will be cornered by WWE legend, Shinsuke Nakamura.
Rei Tsuruya earned a UFC contract following three dominant wins on Road to UFC, a competition the promotion put together for prospects in Asia to be able to earn UFC contracts.
The 22-year-old makes his full debut this coming Saturday at UFC 303, taking on Carlos Hernandez. Hernandez’s last fight came against fellow Japanese prospect, Tatsuro Taira, in which he was finished in round two.
Shinsuke Nakamura set to corner Tsuruya for UFC debut
For his UFC debut, Tsuruya will be cornered by wrestling legend and current WWE superstar, Shinsuke Nakamura. The Japanese wrestler has been on the WWE roster since 2016 and is still currently wrestling under their banner.
With the UFC and WWE now being owned by the same company, TKO, crossovers have become more frequent, and the WWE actually hosted their recent NXT Battleground event at the UFC Apex.
Although Nakamura is known mostly for his skills inside of the wrestling ring, the 44-year-old does in fact have experience in MMA.
In 2002, Nakamura made his professional MMA debut on Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002, losing to Daniel Gracie. He went on to fight four more times, winning three of them with the other being a no contest.
‘The King of Strong Style’ last fought in 2004 on K-1 Romanex, submitting Alexey Ignashov in the second round.
Rei Tsuruya talks making his UFC debut on such a big event
Prior to his Road to UFC final bout, the 22-year-old had never fought outside of Asia, and he has admitted that fighting at the UFC Apex has prepared him for his moment on Saturday night.
“I was able to get a sense of how it is to fight outside of Japan, and a bit of how it is to fight in the UFC,” Tsuruya told Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.
“It was a learning experience in terms of cutting weight and how it is to fight against non-Japanese opponents. It was a great opportunity that I’m very grateful for.
The 22-year-old will be hoping to experience a similar path to the aforementioned Taira, who is currently ranked fifth in the flyweight division, on the verge of a title shot after beating former title challenger, Alex Perez.
“I just keep doing what I love every single day. I’ve invested most of my life into MMA, but I don’t really consider that a sacrifice. I love this sport with all my heart and now I have the opportunity to compete at the highest level,” Tsuruya added.
Related Topics
