RIZIN despicably matched undefeated Amazonian Gabi Garcia, 32, with 53-year-old Japanese Judoka/pro wrestler-turned-politician and grandmother Shinobu Kandori. There was a 50-pound difference between Kandori and the contracted 209 lbs. that Garcia was to hit.
Then Garcia missed weight by 27 pounds, weighing in at 236.9 lbs to Kandori’s 162.25 lbs. The fight was canceled, and Garcia received pointed criticism for grossly missing weight, and for taking the fight. However, the vitriol over the matchup should rightly be directed at the irresponsible RIZIN, not the fighter being offered good money for an easy bout.
In an interview with Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting, Garcia offered her perspective. She was asked if it bothers her that fans outside of Japan regard the fight as a freakshow.
“Yes. That’s it,” she said.” The Japanese audience wants it. They target the Japanese audience, but there are international athletes on there, so the whole world ends up knowing about it. It’s good for them that the world watches it, but I believe many things will change this year. The Japanese market likes me, and they have this answer from the market there, but the media here doesn’t, so it’s my word against everyone’s.”
“I hope the promotion would talk about why they chose these fights instead of me being the only one talking. I think they should explain to international media because people here judge me. Sakakibara talks to the media in Japan, but I’m judged in the United States.”
“I just wanted an explanation as to why they are booking these fights. I don’t see them talking about it anywhere. I’m the only one talking.”
“Sakakibara asked me and I talked to several people about it, Cro Cop, Wanderlei, and even Rickson. Many of them fought pro wrestlers back in the day. [Sakakibara] said she was a star in Japan, and I needed to fight a Japanese fighter to win the Japanese audience. I didn’t think that was true, but I believed him.”
“I had no idea how famous she was. After all that happened, I went out for dinner and everyone was asking me about it. The Japanese people really wanted to see that, and it was disappointing for them. Japan is like a world outside our world, you know? They live something completely different than us. They believed this fight would be something epic, you know?
“[Kandori] was getting paid to fight me. It’s not like, ‘Hey, let’s get a random girl to get beat up by Gabi.’ She asked for this fight, she was getting well paid to be there. People treat her like ‘this poor woman,’ but she was putting money in her pocket.”
“I have to trust Sakakibara and Takada because they opened doors for me. If it wasn’t for Japan, I wouldn’t have a place to fight MMA. I have options today, visibility, but they opened doors for me and I like fighting in Japan.”
“I think I’ve evolved a lot in MMA, my striking is better, and I want to be tested. I don’t want it to be seen as a freak show. I’ve done fights before, so I want to be seen in a better way.”
