CWMMA Warrior Facts: Riku "The Noble" Nobunaga

Fighter profile of Riku Nobunaga by

                                                                              Caged Warriors MMA

Fighter Profile: Riku “The Noble” Nobunaga

Camera pans to Caged Warriors MMA announce duo, Jenkins Jennson and “The Legend” Kale Suanders. They are seated side by side with a screen between them displaying the Caged Warriors MMA logo, with its trademark sparkle. Jenkins is picking his nose, as the Legend kick things off…

Kale Suanders: Greetings fight fans! My name is “The Legend” Kale Suanders and I’m here along with my puny co-host, Jenkins Jennson Prods Jenkins with his finger. We’ve got a helluva fu******n show for you tod…Jenkins interrupts

Jenkins Jennson: …Language, Kale. There are young fans watching.

KS: Rolls his eyes and ignores Jenkins We will be looking at one of the very top competitors in the CWMMA Light Heavyweight division. Hell, in the entire CWMMA. I’m talking about none other than Riku "The Noble" Nobunaga. Nobunaga is a solid 3-0 in QFC competition with all three wins coming by way of submission. Jenkins interrupts      

JJ: …All in the first round, Kale! That’s under 5 minutes, Kale!!

KS: Annoyed Cut it out, Jenkins. I was getting to that. The Noble’s longest fight lasted just four minutes and fifty-seven second! We will have to see if his conditioning can hold up in the later rounds against tougher competition. This ain’t no QFC folks! This is CAGED MOTHER F********IN WARRIORS.

JJ: Kale, calm down, you’re going to bust a blood vessel!

KS: I’m just SO FRIGGIN EXCITED. Let’s watch some highlights.

CLIP STARTS:

Nobunaga with some aggressive grappling here. He's looking for submissions here, rather than waiting for the opportunity to counter.

That's two minutes gone in the round.

Nobunaga swings around for an armbar and he's got it! Wow, that came out of nowhere! What a finish!

KS: Here we see Nobunaga displaying a magnificent ground game in his first fight against Jism Facial. Look at that, Jenkins, Nobunaga is a shark and Facial is just prey waiting to be eaten. Watch, he’s got the full mount only two minutes into the round..he’s mounted Facial and WHOA Facial didn’t know what hit him! That was quick. But not premature I’d say, Jenkins. Jism Facial, an unusual name.

JJ: I actually have a cousin with the same name. She’s got great skin.

KS: Umm Ok, Jenkins. We don’t need to know that.

JJ: I had the opportunity to speak to Riku recently. He takes this stuff seriously!

Zoom to the monitor hanging between Jenkins and Kale. Riku Nobunaga’s face appears.

Riku Nobunaga: I am the great grandson of Oda Nobunaga, a Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku period regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. My parents wants me to be a samurai, but my heart is in MMA.

Zoom out back to Kale and Jenkins

JJ: There is clearly a lot more at stake for Nobunaga than just prize money.

KS: Honor, Jenkins. Ever heard of it? Now Let’s look at Nobunaga’s second fight. A 59- second scorcher!

CLIP STARTS:

Haycott dodges an elbow strike from Nobunaga.

Nobunaga gets a nice trip takedown into half guard.

Nobunaga seems like he's working for an arm triangle here. He's freed his trapped foot and he's rotating nicely. Haycott is in big trouble! He's tapping out! This one is aaaaaaaaaaaall over!

KS: Nice! He sets up the take down with that elbow aaand Haycott is on his back. NOT where he wants to be with Nobunaga, a BJJ Brown Belt! He’s getting his hips up, oh and there his foot is free WOW, that was textbook.

JJ: This man is a submission GENIUS. He looks unstoppable. Haycott never had a chance! He’s got a wrestling background as well! Him and I discussed recently.

Zoom to the monitor hanging between Jenkins and Kale. Riku Nobunaga’s face appears.

Riku Nobunaga: I was a Division 1 NCAA wrestler and decided to train BJJ and got brown belt at the moment. I'm fearless, determined and a BEAST on the ground. Bruh I have no weakness. I'm a beast!

No one in CWMMA can stop me! Bring more competition, for now, nobody could match me.

Zoom out back to Kale and Jenkins

JJ: So far, BEAST describes Riku perfectly. He’s “The Noble Beast.” How about that, Kale? Made that up on my own.

KS: Stay focused, Jenkins. You heard it here first, folks. Riku seeming supremely confident.   bring out your abacus because it’s time to look at some numbers.

JJ: My aba..what??

KS: Your abacus, Jenkins, google it. If we add up all of Nobunaga’s submission attempts we find that out of 16 total submission attempts only 3 were successful…

JJ: That’s only 18.75%

KS: Right you are Jenkins, I see you found your abacus after all. Look to all of Nobunaga’s other offense and we see a giant goose egg. Two elbows in the clinch in three fights is all the striking we have seen from The Noble in terms of striking. The question is: how would he fare against an accomplished striker with formidable take down defense.

JJ: Sleepytown?

KS: Yes, he’s liable to get a free trip to Sleepytown from anyone with a pulse and a semi-decent right cross.

JJ: Ek..Sleepytown..not where I want to go on holiday.

KS: Me neither, Jenkins. Let’s look at his last fight. A re-match with Roberto “Haymaker” Haycott. Boy, Haycott sure is a glutton for punishment.

CLIP STARTS:

Nobunaga working from the bottom, still in full guard. He's managed to get a loose triangle. Haycott doesn't seem to be doing much to defend here, obviously he feels comfortable in the position. Oh but Nobunaga is tightening it up a little... Haycott has to be careful here... He's got his foot tucked under now, this looks tight! Haycott reacted too slowly and this one could be over in a matter of seconds! YES! Haycott taps out!

KS: Let’s talk through the minutes leading up to this and then we’ll discuss this last sequence. Nobunaga attempts NINE submissions along the way, while both advancing and giving up position until we get to the final seconds of round one and there, he’s able to sink in the triangle. You’ve got to be careful, Jenkins. You’re on top, you think you’re safe. Then things start to feel warm and fuzzy. Next thing you know, you’re at the Sleepytown Motel.  

JJ: What? I thought there was only one way to Sleepytown!?

KS: This is MMA, kid. All roads lead to Sleepytown. Gotta keep your eyes open and your balls powdered.

JJ: What? My balls?!

KS: You wouldn’t understand. Before we sign off, Let’s check out how Nobunaga measures up in the Warrior Facts.

Riku "The Noble" Nobunaga

Light Heavyweight Division

Record: 3-0-0 (W-L-D)

Total Opponent Record: 2-5-0

Dominant Fighting Style: BJJ (Brown Belt)

Overall Fight Stats:

Standup

Head punch: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Body punch: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Punch combo: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Head kick: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Leg kick: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Body kick: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Takedown: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Clinchwork

Head punch: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Body punch: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Elbow: 0.7 (0.0) 0%

Knee head: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Knee body: 0.3 (0.0) 0%

Takedowns: 1.3 (0.7) 50%

Groundwork

Improve pos: 2.0 (1.0) 50%

Strikes: 0.0 (0.0) 0%

Sub attempts: 5.3 (1.0) 19%

Strengths

Submissions, Submissions, Submissions. Opponents with poor BJJ who go to the ground with The Noble are going to be tapping out quickly. Once Nobunaga hits the ground, he is relentless in his attack and while he may only hits on average 19% of his submission attempts, it only takes one to win.  

Weaknesses

So far, Nobunaga has shown only one game plan. It’s worked for him so far, but that was in the QFC. The step up in competition at CWMMA will be a true test for this submission superstar.

Outlook

If Nobunaga’s opponent has decent striking and good takedown defense, he’s toast. If he’s matched up against another submission specialist, could go either way. But with Nobunaga’s NCAA Division 1 wrestling pedigree, even grapplers should to watch out. Otherwise, look for Nobunaga to keep racking up those submission wins.

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