đź“ť The Most Creative Prospect In The UFC

And Why I Think Japan Has Their Own Jon Jones

Author

William
June 28th, 2024

First Things First

Buried on the prelims of UFC 303 is one of the most interesting prospects in MMA. Like previously discussed Tatsuro Taira, this prospect is an undefeated Japanese flyweight in their 20’s. Weird, I know. Anyway, let’s look at what makes Tsuruya unique and why I think he might just be the next Jon Jones.

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Rei Tsuruya

Rei Tsuruya might be the hottest prospect in the UFC. I know this sounds hyperbolic. Last week I wrote about another flyweight prospect Assu Almabayev and before that I wrote about Tsuruya’s countrymate, Tatsuro Taira!

Like Taira, Tsuruya is an undefeated Japanese prospect in his early 20’s that previously held a prestigious Japanese MMA title. Taira was Shooto’s champion and Tsuruya was the king of Pancrase before coming to the UFC. If you actually watch them fight they don’t look anything alike though.

Taira is long and tricky. He throws straight strikes on the feet and looks for triangle chokes or back attacks on the floor.

Tsuruya is a creative bull. He goes straight forward to meet you head on, but he scores with some of the most creative techniques you’ll ever see.

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Rei Tsuruya reminds me of Jon Jones.

I’m not saying he’s going to be an all-time great. I don’t even know if he’ll contend for a title. What I do know is that not many fighters have integrated striking into clinch work and throws quite like these two. Both men dominate fighters with over hooks and rare upper body wrestling.

Jones bumps Evans off of him with a shoulder strike. Evans pushes back into Jones. Jones turns him with his over hook and trips him for the foot sweep.

Jon Jones vs Rashad Evans

Let’s start with some of Tsuruya’s more meat and potatoes attacks and work our way to the artistic stuff.

Technical Takeaways

Finding And Finish On The Back

Like most high level grapplers today, Tsuruya hunts the back and has a great rear naked choke.

Tsuruya turns Enomoto over from turtle. He traps Enomoto’s arm in the process. Now Tsuruya can choke Enomoto with limited defenses coming back at him.

Rei Tsuruya vs Satoru Enomoto

Tsuruya will also use odd leg configurations to contort his opponent’s hips and spine. This can set up twisters and open up the opportunity for more creative punching.

Tsuruya has a figure four with the outside leg laced between Jiniushiyue’s legs. Tsuruya uses the position to crank Jiniushiyue’s spine. Jiniushiyue turns face down and Tsuruya starts punching. The ref quickly steps in to save Jiniushiyue.

Rei Tsuruya vs Jiniushiyue

Now let’s look at some other ways Tsuruya likes to hit and hurt his opponent on the floor.

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