The time away for former RIZIN super atomweight champ Ayaka Hamasaki was far from expected, and when the Japanese star returns to the ring this weekend, it will have been almost 17 months to the day since we last saw her in action.
Hamasaki has been paired up with Claire Lopez at RIZIN Landmark 8 in Saga, Japan, but it was her last fight, a loss to South Korea’s Si Woo Park, that has kept her away. She fractured her hand in the fight that night, and it has been a long road back.
“The fracture itself of my hand injury, it recovered pretty quickly, but the pain wouldn’t go away,” Hamasaki told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview. “So I wasn’t fully recovered throughout this, and as a result I just had to take time off from my fights.”
It took an incredibly long time just for Hamasaki, now 41, just to get back in the gym in fact. “Basically I got back into the gym in the summertime of 2023, so basically it took me about a year to get back into the gym,” she explained, speaking via translator.
The layoff was the longest of a career that dates back to 2009. Along the way, Hamasaki has held gold in Jewels, Invicta FC, and twice in RIZIN. Being inactive was something new for the atomweight star.
“I’ve never actually experienced this much time between fights in my career. So I don’t know how I feel, I’m not confident, I don’t really know what to expect,” Hamasaki said of her return. “But what I do know is that Claire Lopez is a very tough opponent, she’s a finisher, and having a clear win against such a tough opponent will definitely send a message to the division that a strong Hamasaki is back.”
With that in mind, Hamasaki is looking for the finish this weekend. She also knows it will not come easy. “Claire, she hits hard too, she’s a good striker. Who knows, if she clips me with a good one, I might go down. But I don’t want to retreat when she’s aggressive with striking, I want to exchange strikes with her. And if the fight hits the mat, goes to the ground, I want to be able to do my best to finish her on the ground.”
If all goes well at RIZIN Landmark 8, Ayaka Hamasaki would no doubt like to work her way back to the super atomweight title, held by Seika Izawa. With two losses to Izawa, Hamasaki knows she isn’t in a position to call the champ out. Instead, she is striving for an undefeated 2024.
“I’m not quite sure how many fights I’ll be able to fight this year, but this is the first event of the year, first fight of the year for me. So I’m determined to win this one, I can’t drop this fight. And I guess my goal for this year would be to go undefeated.”
After that, she may just earn another crack at Izawa — though Hamasaki wasn’t willing to give away what she might do differently in a third fight between the pair.
Watch our full interview with RIZIN Landmark 8’s Ayaka Hamasaki above.
