Hiromasa Ougikubo Talks Grand Prix Victories on NYE at Rizin 33

Hiromasa Ougikubo bested Naoki Inoue and Kai Asakura to capture the Rizin Bantamweight Grand Prix championship. This transpired on December 30th, 2021 with Rizin 33 at Saitama Super Arena.

I spoke with Ougikubo after this remarkable accomplishment and we covered several subjects such as: -How Ougikubo is doing following this momentous night

-Getting engaged after proposing to his girlfriend on the Rizin NYE card

-The methodology backstage maintaining oneself between the first and second fights in a one-night tournament

-Ougikubo himself being the most daunting opponent beyond Inoue and Asakura

-Garnering two underdog victories to capture the Rizin bantamweight grand prix title

-avenging his loss in the finals to Kai Asakura and the feelings associated with that

-If the Grand Prix title holds supreme value or if challenging for that belt Kyoji Horiguchi has and garnering that will be the ultimate capstone

-Fighting for Shooto as well as Vale Tudo Japan and the rich traditions those promotions have

-Ougikubo thinking about hanging them up several times and what ultimately keeps bringing him back to competing each time

-What Hiromasa Ougikubo does outside of fighting to find happiness

-Ougikubo playing guitar and if he plays in a band