Kyra Batara Gets Out of Her Comfort Zone, Heads to RIZIN | MMAWeekly.com

Just over a month ago, atomweight up-and-comer Kyra “Mogwai” Batara was preparing for the toughest test of her young career when she was scheduled to take on veteran Lisa Ellis at Combate Americas: OCHO, but a leg injury forced her from the fight.

Having been relatively healthy most of her career, having to drop out of such a big fight was admittedly very taxing on Batara.

“I had already envisioned this fight happening more times in my head than I had training sessions for the fight, so I was very well-prepared,” Batara told MMAWeekly.com. “When I got injured, it was a huge bummer for me. It took a lot out of me, just knowing how much I had put into that training camp already for Lisa.”

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Luckily for Batara, after taking a couple weeks off, she was healthy again to return to training, and is now scheduled to head to Japan to make her RIZIN debut.

When asked if jumping from one training camp directly into another so quickly could possibly lead her to be burnt out, Batara feels her wrestling background helped prepare her for such things.

“With wrestling you have tournaments almost every single weekend,” she said. “Coming to state you have districts one week, regionals one weekend, and states the following weekend, so my body is well-prepared for the numerous fights and tournaments the last nine years I’ve been training.”

For Batara, getting the opportunity to fight in Japan on what is now the biggest stage of her career for RIZIN is something that she’s been working towards for a very long time.

“I’m very excited to fight internationally,” said Batara. “This is a huge dream I’ve had my whole life, to be able to get this kind of exposure, and for it to happen this early in my career, it means a lot being on the same card as heroes I’ve looked up to.”

On Sunday in Saitama, Japan, Batara (5-3) moves up in weight to take on fellow top-tier wrestler Kanako Murata (3-0) in a 115-pound main card bout at RIZIN’s World Grand Prix 2016 first round event.

“When I got this match-up, it pushed me out of my comfort zone,” Batara said. “It forced me to learn more striking. It was really a blessing in disguise. I really need to evolve as an MMA. This will be my ninth pro fight, and I feel this is the most I’ve grown as a fighter in this camp.”

With the possibility of more international fights opening up should she have a good performance on Sept. 25, Batara is looking forward to every opportunity that comes her way as she continues to build her career from here on out.

“Right now I’m under contract with Combate Americas, and I couldn’t be happier with them, so I will be going (to RIZIN) to represent the CA banner,” she said.

“After that, I’m going to just keep going wherever Campbell (McLaren) takes me. I trust him completely. If that means travelling to more countries, I’d be so excited about what that means. Other than that, I’m taking it one fight at a time.”

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