Makoto Takahashi is definitely looking past Hideo Tokoro who he faces at Rizin 37 this weekend. The rising flyweight star sees it is no more than a tune up fight and has much greater ambitions in mind.
Takahashi is completely confident of defeating an opponent who is 22 years older than him. In fact he warns it is going to be a bad night for Tokoro,
“He should be grateful to be fighting a genius in his retirement fight. I will show him the brutal reality and mess him up.”
Takahashi fought on the Bellator Japan card and already has won Rizin win on his resume. He is the reigning Deep flyweight champion and already feels he has outgrown Japan by the sounds of it.
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Better offer
The 22 year old clearly does not feel that his long term future lies with Rizin. In fact he sees this as a tune up fight and is just waiting for a better offer to arrive,
“I just took this easy fight while waiting for an offer from the UFC. If Tatsuro Taira keeps winning and I keep winning we could put on a fight like Tenshin vs Takeru.”
Taira is already on the UFC roster and coming off a successful debut for the promotion. There is some debate as to who is the best flyweight in Japan and Tokoro and his team feel that it is Takahashi.
But while Tokoro has a healthy respect for his young opponent it is clearly not mutual. Takahashi has been disparaging about the 2011 Dream bantamweight Grand Prix winner,
“I’m the best flyweight un Japan. He’s an old fart,” he said.
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One sided
Tokoro will be making his flyweight debut which is a brave thing to do at the age of 44. He has been handed arguably the toughest matchup imaginable and Takahashi is understandably confident.
Tokoro is the biggest name he has faced so far in his MMA career. But Takahashi does not appear to be taking the fight too seriously,
“He’s got nothing on me, he just scrambles on the ground which is not a threat.”
If Takahashi was ever a fan of Tokoro he is keeping very quiet about it. He doesn’t appear to have any respect for his opponent’s accomplishments and hopes to humiliate him at the Saitama Super Arena on Sunday,
“The theme for this fight is to beat up old timers. This will be a one sided brutal beatdown.”
