Igor Tanabe is a fantastic BJJ competitor and he’s just had his RIZIN FF debut booked against Daichi Abe for Super RIZIN 2 on July 30th, 2023. He’s been a top grappler for quite some time now and he routinely puts on impressive displays of technical proficiency on the mats, but it’s still very early days in his professional MMA career. He’s been taking things quite slow so far, making his professional debut in 2021 and submitting fellow debutante Koshi Shimizu with a triangle choke in the very first round.
His second fight took place in the annual New Year’s Eve show in Japan back in 2022, and the step up in competition for him was huge. He faced veteran MMA fighter and fearsome striker Melvin Manhoef at the event but the result was much the same, as he also managed to submit him in the first round as well. He did so this time with a heel hook, taking his professional record to 2-0 with two first-round submission wins. His third fight isn’t going to be any easier, as he’ll be facing another MMA fighter with significantly more experience than him in the sport.
Daichi Abe has 18 professional fights under his belt and has traveled all around the world to compete in the sport since 2016. He’s competed for all of the top promotions across Asia like Pancrase, RIZIN FF, DEEP, and even ONE Championship; along with a four-fight stint in the UFC as well. If Igor Tanabe is able to maintain his perfect record of impressive finishes when he meets Abe in his RIZIN FF debut, it’ll be a clear sign that he’s ready for another step up in competition and a lot of eyes will be on his growing MMA career.
Igor Tanabe announced the news that he was going to make his debut for RIZIN FF at Super RIZIN 2 on July 30th, 2023 in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
