Sumiko Inaba of Maui will face the biggest challenge of her mixed martial arts career on Saturday in Cape Town, South Africa.
Inaba is such an underdog that Tapology, a leading mixed martial arts website, gives her just a 1% chance to beat England’s powehouse Dakota Ditcheva when they battle in the co-main event flyweight bout of the Professional Fighters League Africa 1 card.
The fight, scheduled for three 5-minute rounds, will be streamed live in the United States through the PFL app and also will be shown on DAZN, which is available via subscription.
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While the odds are long, Inaba is not one to back down from any challenge, even one as formidable as 26-year-old Ditcheva, who has a 14-0-0 record and is ranked second in the league’s women’s flyweight division (125 pounds). The 34-year-old Inaba is 8-1-0 and ranked sixth in the flyweight division.
Worldwide, Ditcheva is ranked No. 14 and Inaba No. 46 among flyweight women, according to Tapology.
“It’s huge, especially in my career right now,” Inaba said last month before leaving for her 3-week training camp in San Diego. “This is the test that I need. The ultimate goal is to make it to the (Ultimate Fighting Championships) and beating her is just the confirmation that I’m ready for the UFC. So, yeah, I can’t wait.”
Inaba, a 2009 graduate of King Kekaulike High School, did not start her professional career until she was 29 years old and has not fought since she stopped Mackenzie Stiller with a ground and pound attack in the second round of a Bellator fight on Sept. 7, 2024. That impressive win solidified her “Lady Samurai” moniker.
“I’m definitely looked at as the underdog and I don’t mind that,” Inaba said. “It’s just a different feeling for me because I’m usually the favorite in most of my fights.”
Inaba showed in a TikTok post on Thursday that she knows what is on the line in the Ditcheva fight in six days.
“She’s the face of PFL,” Inaba said of Ditcheva. “So, like, if I take out the face of PFL, am I the face of PFL?”
The event is expected to have 7,000 spectators watching live in the Grand Arena within the GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World complex and millions more on the streaming sites. Global MMA icon Francis Ngannou serves as the Chairman of PFL Africa, which is expected to boost the league’s visibility and appeal to fans on the continent.
Inaba, a mother to 16-year-old Kiyarah-Lei Inaba-Engoring and 3-year-old Reign Rush, is coached by her husband Sean Rush, whom she married in 2023. He relishes the immense opportunity that his wife has this week.
“It’s her biggest challenge coming up, but she’s always very well prepared,” Rush said. “She trains year-round, non-stop. She’s always getting better, always progressing. This is just another challenge, another test.”
Rush said that the rare opportunity to battle a fighter of the caliber of Ditcheva will help Inaba.
“A lot of people are counting us out, but to be honest, I think that her being in the underdog spot is a strong spot for us, and I plan on nothing else but her capitalizing on that,” Rush said.
There is no doubt that Inaba is the current face of combat sports for Maui, especially among women. Inaba works with Rush, who had a short mixed martial arts fighting career, and a few other coaches on Maui and also has a training base in San Diego where she has several sparring partners.
Reign will turn 4 years old in August and has shown the athleticism he inherited from mom and dad. He loves to watch his mom fight on TV, cheering her on.
Kiyarah-Lei, who will be a junior this fall at King Kekaulike High School and is on the wrestling team. She also steps in whenever is needed to take care of her younger brother. “When we need her, she becomes a little bit of a second mom to him,” Rush said.
Rush often puts his wife and daughter on the mat together. Kiyarah-Lei has caught up to her mother’s height of 5-foot-4. Kiyarah-Lei completed her driver’s education course last month, but she often helps out with the family business.
“She’s also a great help with Sumiko,” Rush said of Kiyarah-Lei. “She’s a wrestler herself, so I have her getting on the mat and helping Sumiko in training also.”
Inaba and Rush met in 2019 and it wasn’t long until they became an item.
“Through the gym we fell in love, loving the same thing,” Inaba said. “So we both have an extreme passion (for MMA). Sean’s been training since he was like 16 years old. So it’s his whole life. He was a professional fighter before I was.”
After running up a 7-1 record as an amateur, Inaba was studying nursing when she decided to jump into professional fighting in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed her debut a bit, but she started her pro career at Bellator 251 with a first-round ground and pound stoppage of Jessica Ruiz on Nov. 5, 2020. She won her first six professional fights before losing to Denise Kielholtz in Bellator 301 on Nov. 17, 2023.
Inaba said her husband is “an encyclopedia” when it comes to fighting knowledge.
“I just get to try and absorb and download as much as I can from him,” Inaba said. “He’s the mastermind behind the whole thing.”
Maui-based coach Wayne Cambra, who had coached Rush, has been the boxing/striking coach for Inaba since she started her professional MMA career.
“If it wasn’t for Sean and coach Wayne, I wouldn’t be who I am,” Inaba said.
Cambra works with Inaba five days a week for about 3 hours each day when she is home and also helps her analyze opponents with film study.
“Her progression has grown quite a bit since she’s been … in San Diego,” Cambra said. “She has a lot of the right sparring partners there.”
Cambra stressed that Inaba’s work has been dialed in for this fight since before it was announced more than a month ago, with plenty of work studying film of Ditcheva’s fights.
“We do it fight specific, per opponent we develop combos that we think will work,” Cambra said. “And we grew on top of that. Her hands. Her hands are ready for this fight.”
Cambra believes Ditcheva is the toughest opponent Inaba has ever faced: “Sumiko’s going to have to close the distance. So, we got our work cut out for us.”
Ditcheva has an impressive finishing ability and well-rounded skillset. She has 13 finishes in her 14 professional fights. She is a powerful striker and has a strong clinch game. Her mother, a former kickboxing world champion, has significantly influenced her career, contributing to her technical prowess and finishing instincts.
Cambra knows that Inaba will have to strike quickly against a striker as good as Ditcheva.
“In the MMA world, you’re never 100% Something’s always nagging or injuries or something,” Cambra said. “So, for what she’s got, this is the best she’s been in a long time.”
When on Maui, Inaba works out at numerous gyms, including the Nakamura Wrestling facility on High Street in Wailuku. There, Inaba works with young students and other standouts including Nanea Estrella, who recently finished third at 138 pounds at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships in March while competing for the University of Iowa.
“She is amazing,” Estrella said of Inaba. “I‘ve actually wrestled around with her a few times when I’ve been home and she is such an athlete. She’s so willing to learn.”
The 55-year-old Cambra said Inaba is a rare role model for Maui girls in the combat sports realm. She helps coach Cambra’s youngest class on Wednesdays when she can.
“It’s just really nice to see that there’s a local girl who got this far — she’s the semi main event on one of the biggest stages or circuits that you can get to,” Cambra said. “I think she’s doing a great thing for all the Maui kids.”
Inaba said she doesn’t “mind being the underdog and shocking everybody. It’s very exciting. It’s a big opportunity. It lights a fire under my butt and it’s putting it into perspective, a girl coming from Maui.”
Nakamura, who nearly made the U.S. Olympic team and now is a world champion masters wrestler, said he also sees something special in Inaba.
“When she does come into our gym, everybody’s starstruck,” Nakamura said. “The kids navigate towards her.”
Inaba said she wants people to feel motivation or inspiration from her.
She added: “I hope winning this fight will make Hawaiʻi proud.”
