Ayaka Miura is coming off the first defeat of her ONE Championship career. Unable to submit Tiffany Teo with her trademark scarf hold americana, she was stopped by strikes late in the third round.
But Miura didn’t go back to the drawing board or try and reinvent herself in the aftermath of this defeat. Instead she has been working on even more ways to get the fight to the ground where she can sink in her favourite submission,
“After that defeat, I practiced more, and now I know more. I have multiple moves to clinch and bring my opponents to the ground.”
Very confident
Miura faces Rayane Bastos at ONE: ‘Dangal’ which is being broadcast this Saturday. But she will be the first to admits that she is unlikely to win the fight if she can’t finish the Brazilian with a submission,
“If I can’t submit Bastos, then there’s no way I can win, but I’m very confident with my ground game, so I’ll be okay.”
In her last fight Bastos scored a memorable submission win over Sovannahry Em at ONE: ‘Mark of Greatness’ trapping the American in a tight guillotine. But Miura is under the impression the Brazilian is more of a striker than a grappler,
“Bastos is a good striker, so probably the most important part is how to avoid that. If you look at her previous bout she submitted her opponent, so it might be a bit tough. But my plan is to bring it to the ground and submit her.”
More experience
Miura has been a professional since 2014 and is a veteran of 14 fights. By contrast her undefeated opponent has stepped inside the cage just five times and the Japanese fighter thinks this will give her an advantage,
“I have more experience, so that’s where I’m going to look for holes in the bout and try to work against her,” she said.
This fight is set for a catchweight of 128lbs with both fighters subject to hydration tests, roughly midway between the strawweight and flyweight division. Miura confirmed that she is open to fighting in either division in future,
“I am interested in fighting anyone in both divisions, and I am also interested in the rematch (with Tiffany Teo) or a world title bout. Whatever comes, I will take it.”
Putting on pressure
Teo challenges Xiong Jing Nan for the strawweight title in the main event of ONE: ‘Empower’ later this month. But Despite having lost to the Singaporean recently Miura is confident she could defeat either her or atomweight champion Angela Lee,
“Whether it’s Angela or Xiong, if I can push my opponent and put the pressure on them, they won’t be able to escape,” she said.
However she was quick to point out that she is not looking beyond the Brazilian and focused on preparing for Bastos rather than thinking about potential future fights,
“If I think about the future it’s not very good, it (my next fight) won’t go in a good way. So, I’ll forget about what I said now and focus on the fight.”
There is no secret to Miura’s success, at least in terms of strategy. She wants to take opponents down and finish them with her trademark submission and that’s exactly what the 30 year old wants to do at ONE: ‘Dangal’,
“As usual, I will bring Bastos to the ground and submit her. That is what is always on my mind.”
