Anthony Birchak is just hours away from his bout with Tatsuya Kawajiri.
The two will do battle inside the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan for Rizin FF 5. This will be Birchak’s first professional mixed martial arts (MMA) bout outside of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) since Oct. 2013. The prelims for Rizin FF 5 begin at 2 a.m. ET.
MMAJunkie.com had the chance to reach out to Birchak before his bout against Kawajiri, who is also a former UFC fighter. He said he feels he has what it takes to emerge victorious:
“You just feel that sense of want and appreciation of a true warrior and fighter. That’s really what made my decision to sign with a Japanese organization. I 100-percent respect his career and everything he’s done in MMA. He’s a tremendous fighter, but the respect only goes so far. I refer to him as a legend, and he’s a great fighter, but I’ve got to start drawing the line between him being a bad man and me being a very, very bad man. I think I’m a lot more dynamic than Tatsuya at 145. I’m a more mobile, dangerous fighter than him. He’s kind of one-dimensional, and I think I just bring way too much to the table.”
