Gabi Garcia will no longer be fighting 52 year-old former pro-wrestler turned politician Shinobu Kandori in the Rizin promotion on New Years Eve after her opponent was forced to withdraw from the bout due to a rib injury.
You could be forgiven for thinking that might lead to Rizin putting together a less bizarre match-up for the 6ft 1″, 205lb+ Garcia, but apparently that’s not the case at all.
Instead, Rizin have now unveiled a new opponent for Garcia in the shape of another former pro-wrestler Yumika Hotta, who will turn 50 in just a couple of weeks time.
Like Kandori, the 5ft 6″, 160lb Hotta does have previous MMA experience, but that was between 1995 and 2000, where she compiled a 5-3 record, though she did return to action in 2013 for a one-off bout against famous director George Lucas’ daughter Amanda Lucas, losing by a third round submission in the Deep promotion.
Hotta was never as big of a name as Kandori, and indeed she lost to her in an MMA bout in 2000, but she was still considered a wrestling star in her native Japan.
Garcia Vs Hotta joins an end-of-year Rizin show that will also feature the culmination of their openweight grand-prix, plus the likes of Kron Gracie Vs Tatsuya kawajiri and a rematch between Charles ‘Krazy Horse’ Bennett and Minoru Kimura.
