RENA shared us her thoughts about her upcoming fight against Italian kickboxer Jleana Valentino.

What went through your mind when you first got the offer with MMA rules

I got the offer a few days before the press conference on October 8th, it was totally out of the blue and had an idea that MMA was scary, so I turned it down because it was just so random and I felt like I wasn’t ready. But as I thought it over I realized that it would be a huge opportunity for me, and realized that I haven’t really been pushing myself for a new challenge. And it would be a stage where I can show how tough Shoot Boxing fighters are so I changed my mind and took the offer.

Now that you are training MMA, what are your thoughts

I have been training MMA with Ayaka Hamasaki at AACC. It’s a total different sport, so I am getting beat up every day. I haven’t had my stomach muscles crap up in so long. But I think I got over the fear because throws, chokes, submission holds are allowed in Shoot Boxing as well so learning the details will be good for me. MMA training works your core muscles too so there’s nothing but positive aspects for me as a fighter. I want to continue to practice MMA after this fight.

Your opponent is confirmed to be Valentino from Italy

She’s also a kick boxer so I’m not sure if we’ll ever go to the ground, but I want to show the good parts of a female fight. It is often seen that fighting is only for men, but I want to prove that girls can fight too. I hope that my fight inspires other girls and become interested in the sport. No girl fight has been held on New Year’s Eve, so this will be a very important role for women’s MMA.

A message to the fans please

I want to show a totally different RENA in MMA than the usual Shooto Boxing RENA. I’m confident that I could win a stand up fight, but I want people to say “Wow, she can grapple too”. To be honest I’m still very green, but I will train really hard up to the fight and work on my ground game to be able to finish with a submission. I want people guessing if I’m going to strike or grapple.