Rikako Yuasa

In 2018 Rikako Yuasa beat Serena Gabrielli 6-2 in the roosterweight final and completed a run no Japanese woman had ever managed: four straight black belt world titles. The streak began in 2015, when she became the first woman from Japan to win a black belt world title, and continued in 2016 and 2017 with submissions and tight wins in the finals.

Born on April 12, 1991, in Saitama, she swam from age 4, well enough to reach Japan’s Junior Olympics, and did wrestling and judo at school. She started Jiu-Jitsu in 2008, at 17, to lose weight, trained with Makoto Ikuta and with Ichiro Kaneko at Pogona Club Gym, and joined Yukinori Sasa’s Paraestra as a brown belt in 2013. Her nickname, Lady Sasa, honours her coach. A brown belt world champion in 2014, with an armbar on Patricia Fontes in the final, she received her black belt from Sasa on June 7 that year, the weekend after she got back from California.

Her first black belt title came in 2015, at light-featherweight, with wins over Laurence Cousin 6-4 in the semifinal and Gezary Matuda on advantages in the final after a 4-4. In 2016 she dropped to roosterweight and finished Outi Tammilehto with a bow and arrow choke in the final. In 2017 she closed out the final with a collar choke on Rayanne Amanda dos Santos. The lasso guard is the signature of her game.

In 2019 she ran into Mayssa Bastos: she lost the Tokyo Grand Slam final and the world final to the Brazilian, taking silver. That same year she won the Asian Open at 53.5 kg. At ADCC she competed in 2015 and 2017, losing to Michelle Nicolini both times.