ONE Friday Fights 80 took place on September 20th, 2024 and Shoya Ishiguro was able to get another win in an epic match against Hiryu Niwa. The two men are among the very best BJJ competitors to come out of Japan in this generation and they both put everything they had into coming away with the win. Ishiguro was coming in to the match with a solid ONE Championship record, as he won his debut at ONE Friday Fights 55 earlier in the year and had already made his second appearance. Just two months later, Ishiguro got his first submission win at ONE Friday Fights 64 and moved to 2-0 in the promotion.
Ishiguro pulled guard as soon as they clinched up and hit a slick butterfly sweep to send Niwa over his head. Niwa threatened him with a D’arce Choke but Ishiguro was able to deal with danger very quickly and he took up top position. Niwa used the distance to move to K-guard and he looked to enter the legs, choosing to sweep instead when Ishiguro sat down to defend. Ishiguro returned fire with a K-guard entry of his own and both men started to pummel for inside position while seated. Niwa was getting the better of the exchange and putting Ishiguro under pressure, before switching to attacking the back instead.
Ishiguro stayed tight and prevented the initial backtake but Niwa was transitioning seamlessly between back-attacks and leg-attacks. He eventually found his way to the saddle and started putting pressure on Ishiguro’s knee, but Ishiguro was able to deal with it and eventually free himself. He took up top position and was under threat from a false reap entry, but Niwa wrestled up and finished the sweep when he defended it. Niwa tried to dive over the top of Ishiguro’s guard but found himself under threat of a leg attack, so he bailed out to guard himself instead. Ishiguro came up on top to start passing and dropped to his knees to do so, pressuring Niwa into Z-guard.
Niwa threatened Ishiguro’s legs a little but Ishiguro started to pile on the pressure from top position, and Niwa was having to work very hard to retain guard. Ishiguro pressured him into the corner of the ring and they had to be reset, with him immediately getting back to his high-pace passing. Niwa created space and wrestled up, but got caught in a front-headlock in the process and Ishiguro brought him back to the ground with it. Ishiguro started passing with a ton of top-pressure again, before falling back on a heel hook attempt.
There was just a little less than a minute left in the match and Ishiguro was cranking on the heel hook, but Niwa was able to stay safe. Ishiguro came back up on top briefly as he worked to separate Niwa’s legs, before falling back on the heel hook attempt again. He was in single-leg X and although he had a good bite on the heel, Niwa was able to move his hips enough to negate the pressure and ride out the last few seconds. Neither man could score a catch during the match but Shoya Ishiguro was awarded the decision win at ONE Friday Fights 80 thanks to his relentless offense in the second half.
The win moves Ishiguro to 3-0 under the ONE Championship banner and he’s making a great case for a shot at one of the promotion’s titles. His first two matches were at bantamweight and catchweight, but this latest match against Niwa was at flyweight instead. That title was recently vacated by Mikey Musumeci when he was unable to make weight for his last match, so the arrival of a new challenger couldn’t come at a better time. Musumeci will obviously first in line to fight for his old title and the promotion could either rebook his match with Carlos ‘Bebeto’ Oliveira, or give Shoya Ishiguro his title-shot.
ONE Friday Fights 80 Results
The full ONE Friday Fights 80 event replay, including the submission grappling match between Shoya Ishiguro and Hiryu Niwa, is available to watch on the official YouTube channel of Sky Sports:
