Rika Ishige celebrated her 34th birthday this week although we think the mixed martial artist and social media influencer looks at least a decade younger. She appears to have died her hair for the occasion and is sporting a bold new red look.
As well as being a ONE Championship veteran Rika is a seasoned traveler who is constantly visiting different regions in Thailand. This week she found herself in Chiang Mai and decided to celebrate her birthday with a spot of rafting:
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Long break
It has been a long time since we last saw Rika in the cage. The atomweight was last seen at ONE: ‘A New Breed’ in 2020 where she dropped a decision to fellow Thai Sunisa Srisen.
The 34 year old seems to have a wide array of interests and has shared photos of herself playing basketball and skateboarding in recent weeks. But Rika is still training regularly in MMA even if she appears to have retired from actual competition.
A few day’s ago she shared a photo of herself shadow boxing with her 248,000 followers
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A new breed
Since Rika’s last fight a new breed of female mixed martial artists from Thailand has emerged. Leading the way are Stamp Fairtex and Loma Lookboonmee.
The former has eclipsed Rika, at least in terms of popularity on Instagram, with Stamp amassing an impressive 495,000 followers. She is nearly a decade younger than her fellow atomweight but came into ONE Championship with much more experience.
Rika had never really competed before signing with ONE Championship but still managed to win four out of her first six fights with all the victories coming by way of submission. By contrast Stamp was already a veteran of dozens of Muay Thai matches when she made her debut.
It is clear that the competition is much more intense now then it was when Rika first started out, particularly at atomweight where the likes of Angela Lee, Seo Hee Ham, Denice Zamboanga and Itsuki Hirata are competing. Rika actually faced the latter in Japan, suffering a submission loss on the historic ONE: ‘Century’ card.
Earlier this year Rika won an award for her online activity. We aren’t sure if she is going to fight again but the social media savvy 34 year old is sure to continue posting content that grabs the attention of her fans in the MMA world and beyond.
