UFC: Japan’s Kanako Murata draws Khabib comparisons with dominant debut victory

Kanako Murata’s laid out her supreme wrestling pedigree for the wider world to see on Sunday, grinding down the veteran strawweight Randa “Quiet Storm” Markos over three rounds to take a unanimous decision on debut at UFC Vegas 14.

It was an effort that had the UFC’s cageside commentary team buzzing, most vocally of all Hall of Famer Michael Bisping, who claimed he was having “Khabib Nurmagomedov flashbacks” as the Japanese fighter went to work.

There were certainly echoes of the now-retired Russian lightweight king at his finest as Murata (12-1) monstered Markos (10-11-1) to the mat, and then went to work.

A 4-0 takedown count by the end told the tale, as did more than nine minutes of control for Murata, and a whopping 17 of 18 significant strikes landed on the ground, in between the relentless pressure, and a stream of submission attempts.

“Just to win my UFC debut makes me so happy,” Murata said. “I learned a lot fighting a veteran with experience like Randa Markos. I don’t mind fighting anyone, I just want to keep winning and climbing step by step.”

The 27-year-old Murata was signed by the UFC after last year claiming the Invicta strawweight title and rode a 7-0 run into Las Vegas on Sunday.

With a stacked strawweight division now ahead of her, Murata said during Fight Week she thought the main problem would be working out how to add a striker’s edge to a skill set forged as an Asian Championship freestyle wrestling champion.

n Sunday’s evidence the work Murata has been doing at Combat Sport Academy in Dublin California – alongside the likes of K1 kick-boxing champion Kana Morimoto – is already paying dividends.

Murata had the 35-year-old Markos down within a minute of the first bell and later in the round was landing huge elbows as she worked another takedown into full mount, and she started looking for a way to finish things.

When the bell went Markos was sucking air hard and the Iraq-born Canadian came out in the second obviously keen to keep away from the floor, and to make use of a three-inch height advantage. Her best form of attack was proving to be heavy knees in the clinch but soon enough Murata took her down again and squirmed – yeah, a bit like Khabib – as she looked to lock wrists, and then somehow got into a position to threaten a front headlock.

Murata looked in complete control as she waited for the third to start while Markos was over there on the opposite side of the Octagon and she was blowing hard.

Bisping went nuts again about halfway through the last when Murata slipped in a tight D’Arce choke that looked for a split second to have drawn a Markos tap. But the veteran somehow held on, even mounting a brief last attempt at an arm bar. But by then Murata knew the fight was in her pocket, and the triple 30-27s on the cards made no doubt about that.