—Your fight is in three days. How is your mental state leading up to the fight?
I feel great. All that’s left to do now is fight. My training and preparation has been perfect, and if I were to lose the fight it would be because my opponent fought and outstanding fight. But I am full of confidence and in great condition. I’m ready to go.

—You broke your left hand, how are the finger joints you injured?
Only just recently have I been able to punch again. I only have one fight on this card, so I am going to punch as hard and as much as I can.

—Your doctor demanded that you take the full amount of time to fully heal. What has he said to you?
It took 6 weeks to recover and it was touch and go whether or not I’d be able to compete in Rizin. At first I couldn’t clench my fist or bend my finger and even though it’s still a little painful now, it’s pain I can stand. I think I’m going to be fine. If worst comes to worst, I’ll take a shot to kill the pain but that’s something I’d like to avoid as it makes you less aware during the fight. My opponent this time is a southpaw, and I’ve trained to fight against both styles of fighters.

—Can you give us your thoughts on your opponent?
She has much longer arms and legs than I thought, and a very sharp straight punch. I think she’s a good fighter.

—You’ve only recently added MMA into your training. How much confidence do you have that you will be able to respond to an MMA situation when you fight?
I won’t really know until the bell sounds to start the fight. I think I have a lot of ability but the fight distance and the gloves have been different in training so far. I have no problem with my striking, and my newaza isn’t too bad, so I think I’ll get by just fine.

—Who will be accompanying you to the ring?
AACC’s Hiroyuki Abe, Invicta champion Ayaka Hamasaki, and Caesar Gym trainer Tam Sensei will be.

—Did you absorb anything from training with Ayaka Hamasaki?
I absorbed everything I could from her. It’s all I did. She taught techniques that are useful in shoot boxing, and the finer details on things. Ayaka never wants to lose too, and learning all this from her was such a big challenge. It was really great.

—Being in the opening fight, what kind of fight do you want to fight?
As Mr. Sakakibara was kindly saying, I am going to be the one to kick off the show, so I want everyone to be surprised at how well I fight. I want everyone to be happy that I was chosen to fight, and will do my best to make that happen.

—Are people coming up from Osaka to watch you fight?
Two of my best friends are coming up to watch and they have written me letters that said “all I want from Santa this year is to see you win Rena!”. So I would like to win for them as a Christmas present, and then enjoy the new year celebrations with them. I must win this fight!

—Are you going to continue fighting as a MMA fighter next year?
To be honest, I don’t really know yet. All I am concentrating on right now is this fight.

—There is one more women’s fight on as well, are you conscious of this?
I am, but the difference in weight and body size is too much (LOL) so it’s a completely different genre for me.