Sanae Kikura (top)
On Friday, ADCC Asia announced that Sanake Kikuta will replace Matt Hughes to face Renzo Gracie in this year’s super fight of the ADCC SUBMISSION FIGHTING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 in Helsinki, Finland.
Gracie and Kikuta faced once under the MMA rules. That was back in 1998 in PRIDE.2. They fought over 50 minutes and at the end Gracie submitted Kikuta via guillotine choke.
Kikuta is the only Japanese that won ADCC worlds so that is probably one of the reasons why he was selected as the replacement of Hughes who is suffering from auto accident.
Sanae is 45 years old and Renzo is 50 years old.
Most recently Gracie fought Kaushi Sakuraba in the grappling match and ended up in a 20-minute draw.
ADCC Submission Fighting Championship 2017
September 22nd to 24th, 2017
At Espoo Metro Arena in Espoo, Helsinki, Finland
Stars Super Fight:
- Renzo Gracie vs Sanane Kikuta
- Frank Mir vs Chael Sonnen
Report by Shu Hirata
Photo courtesy of Bout Review (www.boutreview.com)
