is a Japanese

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

and former

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling i ...

who currently competes in the bantamweight division. Competing at 61 kilograms, Nakamura became the 2017 U23 World Champion during his

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

career, before retiring at age 25 to pursue mixed martial arts.

Background

Rinya is the son of Kozo Nakamura, who was involved in the early development of

Shooto Shooto is a combat sport and mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the ''Shooto Association'' and the ''International Shooto Commission''. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, first as a particular fighting system and then in 198 ...

in the 90's. Having begun wrestling at the age of five, Nakamura's first notable accomplishment in the sport of

freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling ...

was a bronze medal from the Cadet World Championships in 2011. A multiple-time Japanese National medalist at two different weight classes, his most remarkable achievement of his career came at the 2017 U23 World Championships, where he became the champion at 61 kilograms. After the delay of the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Nakamura decided to retire from wrestling and hop into the sport of

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

In April 2020, Nakamura announced his serious intentions of competing in

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

. Nakamura made his professional debut against Takumi Arai in a mixed martial arts reality show Fighting Dreamers on 15 May 2021. He won the fight via first-minute knockout. He then made his sophomore appearance against Akuri Ronda at Shooto 0725 on 25 July 2021. He won the bout via second-round knockout. Nakamura faced Yasuyuki Nojiri at Shooto 0116 on January 16, 2022. He won the fight via first-minute technical knockout. On April 24, 2022, he fought against Aliandro Caetano in POUNDSTORM, and although he was punched in round 1 and cut his right eyelid leading to intense bleeding, he utilised his takedown advantage and won the 3-0 decision.

Road to UFC

Nakamura faced Gugun Gusman in the Quarter-Finals of the Bantamweight tournament on June 9, 2022 in Road to UFC Season 1: Episode 3. He won the bout in the first round via

americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

submission. Nakamura faced Shohei Nose in the Semi-Finals of the Bantamweight tournament on October 23, 2022 at Road to UFC Season 1: Episode 6. He won the bout in the first round, knocking out Nose. In the finals of the tournament, Nakamura faced Toshiomi Kazama on February 4, 2023 at UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Spivak. He won the fight via knockout in the first round. This win earned Nakamura his first ''Performance of the Night'' bonus award.

UFC tenure

Nakamura is scheduled to face Fernie Garcia at UFC on ESPN: Holloway vs. The Korean Zombie on August 26, 2023.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

Performance of the Night UFC Bonus Awards are three separate cash bonuses usually awarded to four fighters after each UFC event, based on internal decisions by UFC management. More/fewer bonuses have been awarded at some events, especially when no knockouts or submissions ...

(One time) ** Road to UFC Season 1 Bantamweight Tournament Winner.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 7–0 , Toshiomi Kazama , KO (punch) , UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Spivak , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:33 ,

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

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Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

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Kallang Kallang is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore. Kallang Planning Area is bounded by Toa Payoh in the no ...

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Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

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Freestyle record

! colspan="7", Senior Freestyle Matches , - ! Res. ! Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , 36–9 , align=left, Takuto Otoguro , style="font-size:88%", TF 0–10 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, 19–22 December 2019 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, 2019 Japanese National Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5,

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, - , Win , 36–8 , align=left, Takuma Taniyama , style="font-size:88%", TF 11–0 , - , Win , 35–8 , align=left, Masakazu Kamoi , style="font-size:88%", 9–5 , - , Win , 34–8 , align=left, Isojiro , style="font-size:88%", TF 11–0 , - , Win , 33–8 , align=left, Yamato Hagiwara , style="font-size:88%", 4–2 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , , align=left,

Rei Higuchi Rei Higuchi (Japanese: 樋口黎; born 28 January 1996) is a Japanese freestyle wrestler who won a silver medal in the 57 kg division at the 2016 Olympics.Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, - , Win , 32–8 , align=left, Hirotaka Abe , style="font-size:88%", 8–3 , - , Loss , 31–8 , align=left, Takuto Otoguro , style="font-size:88%", TF 0–10 , - , Win , 31–7 , align=left, Fukuda Toki , style="font-size:88%", TF 12–2 , - , Win , 30–7 , align=left, Takuya Funaki , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , , align=left, Hirotaka Abe , style="font-size:88%", INJ , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2, 14–17 June 2018 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2, 2018 Meiji Cup (JPN World Team Trials) , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=2,

, - , Win , 29–7 , align=left, Koki Terada , style="font-size:88%", 13–7 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 28–7 , align=left,

Sandeep Tomar Sandeep Tomar (born in Malakpur village, Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh) is an Indian male wrestler who competes in the men's freestyle 55 kg category. Sandeep Tomar on 24 April 2016, secured an Olympic quota place for India in the men's ...

, style="font-size:88%", TF 11–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2, 7–8 April 2018 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2,

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

, style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=2,

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

, - , Win , 27–7 , align=left, Lasha Lomtadze , style="font-size:88%", 9–2 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 26–7 , align=left, Kuat Amirtaev , style="font-size:88%", TF 12–2 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 21–26 November 2017 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2017 U23 World Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

Bydgoszcz, Poland Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

, - , Win , 25–7 , align=left, Islam Dudaev , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 24–7 , align=left, Husein Shakhbanau , style="font-size:88%", 10–4 , - , Win , 23–7 , align=left, Gabriel Janatsch , style="font-size:88%", TF 11–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , 22–7 , align=left,

Yowlys Bonne Yowlys Bonne Rodríguez (born November 2, 1983) is a Cuban world champion freestyle wrestler and three-time world-level medalist. Early life Bonne is from Guantánamo, Cuba. Career In 2018 Bonne became world champion by defeating Gadzhimurad ...

, style="font-size:88%", Fall , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, 25 August 2017 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, 2017 World Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5,

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, - , Win , 22–6 , align=left, Mykola Bolotňuk , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 21–6 , align=left, Alibek Osmonov , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Loss , 20–6 , align=left,

Haji Aliyev Haji Aliyev ( az, Hacı Azər oğlu Əliyev; born 21 April 1991, in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan SSR) is an Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler. He competed at the 61 kg division in the 2014 European Wrestling Championships and won the gold medal af ...

, style="font-size:88%", 1–10 , - , Win , 20–5 , align=left, Andrei Prepeliţă , style="font-size:88%", 7–3 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 19–5 , align=left,

, - , Win , 18–5 , align=left,

Rei Higuchi Rei Higuchi (Japanese: 樋口黎; born 28 January 1996) is a Japanese freestyle wrestler who won a silver medal in the 57 kg division at the 2016 Olympics.Madrid, Spain Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, - , Win , 15–4 , align=left, Kairat Amirtayev , style="font-size:88%", TF 12–1 , - , Win , 14–4 , align=left, Amar Laissaoui , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 13–4 , align=left,

Yuki Takahashi is a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He currently races in the All Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship aboard a Honda CBR1000RR. For 2009 he made his debut in the MotoGP class, with the Scot Racing Honda team but was subsequentl ...

, style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, 27–29 May 2016 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3, 2016 Meiji Cup (JPN World Team Trials) , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3,

, - , Win , 12–4 , align=left, Gaku Akazawa , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 11–4 , align=left, Toshihiro Hasegawa , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 10–4 , align=left, Yasuhiro Morita , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 21–23 December 2015 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2015 Japanese National Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

, - , Loss , 9–4 , align=left,

Rei Higuchi Rei Higuchi (Japanese: 樋口黎; born 28 January 1996) is a Japanese freestyle wrestler who won a silver medal in the 57 kg division at the 2016 Olympics.Yasuhiro Inaba is a male freestyle wrestler from Japan. External links bio on fila-wrestling.com Living people 1985 births Japanese male sport wrestlers Asian Games medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2010 Asian Games World Wrestling Championships ...

, style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , 7–3 , align=left, Sung Gwon Kim , style="font-size:88%", 0–1 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 11 July 2015 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2015 Grand Prix of Spain , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, - , Win , 7–2 , align=left, Juan Pablo Gonzalez , style="font-size:88%", 9–1 , - , Win , 6–2 , align=left, Marco Coetzee , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 5–2 , align=left, Amin Nouri , style="font-size:88%", TF 13–2 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 4–2 , align=left, Yasuhiro Morita , style="font-size:88%", TF 11–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 19–21 June 2015 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4, 2015 Meiji Cup (JPN World Team Trials) , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4,

, - , Loss , 3–2 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", 0–5 , - , Win , 3–1 , align=left, Kazuaki Oshiro , style="font-size:88%", TF 10–0 , - , Win , 2–1 , align=left, Toshihiro Hasegawa , style="font-size:88%", TF 14–4 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , 1–1 , align=left, Fumitaka Morishita , style="font-size:88%", 2–4 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2, 21–23 December 2014 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2, 2014 Japanese National Championships , style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=2,

, - , Win , 1–0 , align=left, Rei Kuwagi , style="font-size:88%", 9–7 , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakamura, Rinya 1995 births Living people Japanese male sport wrestlers Japanese male mixed martial artists Bantamweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing freestyle wrestling People from Saitama (city) 20th-century Japanese people 21st-century Japanese people