Tenshin Nasukawa
The biggest post of the day came from the boxer formerly known as the kickboxing prodigy, and it had nothing to do with a fight. On X, @TeppenTenshin wrote “ここ2日で人の生と死に触れた,” saying he’d come into contact with both life and death over the past two days, and that it reminded him how precious it is to be alive on this planet. He didn’t say what happened, so we won’t guess. What he did say was the kind of thing you screenshot for a friend: you don’t have to push yourself, it’s fine to run away, but “生きる事から目を背けちゃダメだ,” meaning don’t turn your back on living. He signed off by telling people to look up and keep walking. He admitted he’s one of the people who isn’t satisfied with where he is right now. That’s a guy who has won almost everything he’s touched saying he still feels it too, and it landed with 1,551 engagements.
Itsuki Hirata
Four years and seven months. That’s how long @itsuki_h waited for her rematch, and she finally got the win. “4年7ヶ月ぶりのリベンジマッチ、勝つことができました,” she wrote, then spent the rest of the post crediting the people around her. She said there were plenty of hard moments before the fight and that she never could have gotten through it alone. I love a revenge arc, and this one took longer than most TV shows stay on the air. Running back a loss after nearly five years and actually cashing it in is the stuff fighters dream about at 3 a.m.
Sean Strickland
Strickland posted from Canada with a short one: “Freedom for Alberta. Thanks for having me 👊.” That’s it. Seven words and a fist emoji. The former middleweight champ never needs more than a sentence to turn a thank-you note into a political bumper sticker, and somewhere a Canadian promoter is deciding whether that counts as a compliment. Honestly, this might be the most polite Sean Strickland post of the year, which tells you everything about the bar.
View post on X
View post on X
Gary Goodridge
Big Daddy dropped a classic on X: “Every setback is a setup for a comeback.” It’s the kind of line you’d find printed on a gym wall next to a dusty heavy bag, and Goodridge has earned the right to say it. No context, no tag, just vibes. Somebody on today’s list probably needed it, and Hirata already proved it.
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Ryotaro Ihara
Here’s where it gets spicy. @ihararyotaro quote-posted Samurai Soul CEO @valentine_hoso, who had written a long breakdown of ONE’s hydration test and how urine specific gravity can trip up some athletes, specifically in the context of Abo. Hoso suggested ONE consider blood testing and said Abo should try the test at his normal full weight to find out whether it’s really his body type. Ihara wasn’t buying the sudden sympathy. He said he’d always pegged Hoso as a creepy old man who rallies the internet against people with reasonable-sounding arguments, and joked that he’s apparently gentle with his own people. “ルールはルールってこと以外ないやろ笑笑,” Ihara wrote, basically saying rules are rules and that’s all there is to it. He added that if a Breaking Down fighter had done the same thing, Hoso would’ve torched them. The twist that makes this funny is the last line, where Ihara says he’s actually on the side that feels sorry for Abo. So he agrees with the conclusion and still went after the guy who wrote it. That’s peak internet beef, and I respect the commitment.
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Hiromasa Ougikubo
The RIZIN veteran was fired up after RIZIN Koshien. “RIZIN甲子園アツかった🔥,” @Hiromasa0401 posted, calling the event hot, then pointed straight at New Year’s Eve: Christian Matsuo vs. Sora Kaneko (松尾クリスチャン vs 金子蒼空). He flagged that matchup as one to watch and told anyone who missed Koshien to go find it. When a guy who has been in as many big RIZIN fights as Ougikubo tells you to circle a December 31 bout, you circle it.
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View post on X
