Rome Trinidad, Rika Ishige

Rika “Tiny Doll” Ishige, 29, of Thailand submitted like Rome “The Rebel” Trinidad, 21, of the Philippines via rear-naked choke when they fought in the atomweight division at “ONE: Warriors of the World” on December 9, 2017 at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. It was the promotional debut of the Filipino contender.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for a young and dedicated cage competitor like Trinidad. The thrilling atomweight bout against Ishige put fans at the state-of-the-art Impact Arena on the edge of their seats and the Filipino mixed martial artist was left disappointed with the outcome of the match.

“I believe that I could have done better in that match, but I came up short,” Trinidad explained. “I just realized that there was something missing.”

“It was my first time to fight internationally and I lost,” Trinidad added. “It gave me motivation to keep going, get better, and be more aggressive. Most of all, it taught me to be humble in all aspects of my life.”

The submission defeat to Ishige forced Trinidad to reassess on how she handles her training camp when she prepares for an upcoming bout. With her coach Andrew Benibe, Trinidad is now preparing for her atomweight bout against Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol, 29, of Indonesia at “ONE: Grit and Glory” at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Currently, Trinidad has a professional MMA record of 1 win and 1 loss while Gaol has 2 wins and 2 losses. Meanwhile, watch the bout between Trinidad and Ishige at “ONE: Warriors of the World” here:

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