◆ Pacific League Orix Buffaloes Nippon-Ham (14th, Kyocera Dome Osaka)

RIZIN fighter YA-MAN took the mound for the ceremonial first pitch. He threw a powerful pitch to Wakatsuki of catcher—who is also from Saitama and was one grade ahead of him—but it narrowly landed for a one-bounce. “It was a different kind of tension than in combat sports. I thought, ‘He’s a pro after all catcher—he’s really good.’“Since he’s a player I played with in the same generation, it was quite moving,” he said with a smile.

He himself played baseball until his second year of high school, playing as catcher. He declared that he would throw 140 km/h when he took mound, but he recalled, "It was about 138 km/h? (laughs) I was close."

On September 10th, he is scheduled to compete in "ANGEL CHAMPAGNE presents Super RIZIN.5 Naniwa's Super Revival Festival" to be held at Kyocera Dome. "I made a bit of a mistake today, so I lost by one bounce. I want to have a match where I can make up for that and get a knockout," he said, vowing revenge.