Kazushi Sakuraba’s son, Taisei Sakuraba is about to follow in his father’s footsteps by making his professional MMA debut at RIZIN 49: Decade on December 31st, 2024. He couldn’t have picked a bigger moment to make that leap either, as the traditional New Year’s Eve MMA event in Japan is one of the biggest of the year. Not just that of course, but RIZIN FF will be celebrating the nine year anniversary of their birth with this landmark event. Having his first fight at this time is a brilliant way for the promotion to come full circle as well, as Taisei’s father Kazushi actually competed in their very first event 9 years ago.
This isn’t the first time that Sakuraba will be competing at a big event though, as he actually won a grappling match at Quintet 4 in front of a massive crowd. It was a great performance by the talented grappler too, as he was able to weather an early storm from Masato Uchishiba before locking up a kneebar to get the submission finish against him. He’s never even had an amateur MMA fight before though, so it remains to be seen what his striking is like or whether his grappling is just as effective when strikes on the ground are involved.
It’s pretty surprising to see Taisei Sakuraba making his MMA debut this late in life at 26, but his father didn’t actually make his debut until he was 27. He’s not starting out slow either, as RIZIN FF have booked him an incredibly tough veteran opponent right from the start of his career. Sakuraba will be facing Yusuke Yachi; who has already been in over 40 professional fights at the age of 34. Yachi has spent the last 8 years competing for RIZIN FF and currently holds a professional record of 27-14, including a submission win over the legendary Takanori Gomi. It’ll be interesting to see how Sakuraba fares in his very first fight, and if he decides to pursue this career further as well.
RIZIN FF announced the news that Kazushi Sakuraba’s son Taisei Sakuraba is going to make his professional MMA debut at RIZIN 49: Decade in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
