Rika Ishige might not have fought for a while but she remains a superstar. The Thai atomweight took to Facebook to share some photos of herself enjoying a relaxing Sunday by the pool.
Rika turned 30 earlier this year but looks at least a decade younger in these stunning photos:
Fan following
Rika has a huge fan following in Thailand. She has 241,000 followers on Instagram and 458,000 followers on Facebook and photos like this go a long way to explaining why.
But Rika is much more than just a pretty face. She is also a successful mixed martial artist who has a record of 4-5 and has fought for ONE Championship nine times.
She made her promotional debut in 2017 and won four our of her first six fights for the promotion with all of the wins coming inside a round. Rika was a rising star but suffered a slump in form and went on to lose her next three.
View this post on Instagram
Blue chip
Her last fight was in 2020 but Rika is still training and frequently posts photos of herself working out at various camps across Thailand. Earlier this year she was in Phuket to polish up her MMA skills at Bang Tao Muay Thai.
Rika has been a big hit with the fans in Bangkok and has wowed the Impact Arena with a couple of her performances. We haven’t seen her in action since ONE Championship shifted from Thailand to Singapore for its live events.
When the promotion does return to Bangkok the card will surely feature Rika who is a big name there despite her recent inactivity. She still has the ability to attract blue chip sponsors and has done photo shoots for brands like Adidas.
View this post on Instagram
Blueprint for success
In many ways Rika has followed the blueprint set by Paige VanZant who has retained a very high profile despite competing very rarely. She showed that once a fighter is sufficiently famous they don’t necessarily need to fight to make money.
VanZant suffered a setback recently when her BKFC bout was cancelled at the last minute. The former UFC star was very disappointed but it has been rescheduled for later in the year.
No-one knows when Rika will be back but fight fans will definitely continue to follow her exploits on social media in the meantime.
