<figure id="attachment_389980" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-389980" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6192412c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/9197281b2648c27251e4035f338c7b8b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-389980" class="wp-caption-text">Ren Hiramoto in an exclusive interview with FRIDAY Digital</figcaption></figure>
<p> On September 2, fighter Ren Hiramoto (26) held a press conference at a certain hotel in Tokyo to clearly deny her &#8220;doping scandal&#8221; stemming from an audio message posted on the Internet.</p>
<p> Immediately after the press conference, which was packed with a large number of media, Ren Hiramoto, who was in the middle of the controversy, gave an exclusive interview to FRIDAY Digital about &#8220;the truth that could not be told at the press conference.</p>
<p> Dressed in a white pinstriped suit and performing light shadowboxing, Hiramoto began by recounting the following story.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> If I make it to the top in MMA (mixed martial arts) and become a world-class fighter, I would like to travel to cities around the world and fight in exhibition matches against all kinds of guys.</span></p>
<p> Floyd Mayweather, 47, a former world five-weight boxing champion who has won all 50 of his fights, has been using his fame to hold exhibition matches around the world since his retirement. In Japan, Mayweather became the talk of the town for his KOs of Tenshin Nasukawa (26), a kick boxer, and Mirai Asakura (32), a fighter, including his behavior before and after their fights.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He was also talked about for his behavior before and after the fight. &#8220;Boxing is where you can make the most money,&#8221; he said, &#8220;In the K-1 era, fight money was 300,000 yen for a title match. I was thinking, &#8216;If I had worked part-time at a convenience store during the time I spent training, I would have made more money. Thinking back to those days, now I receive enough fight money from RIZIN.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> Hiramoto was scheduled to rise to the top of the star-studded ranks as RIZIN&#8217;s signature fighter.</p>
<p> On July 28, Hiramoto KO&#8217;d Asakura in the main event of &#8220;Cho-RIGIN.3&#8221; at the Saitama Super Arena, where Asakura was unable to respond to a sharp left straight and was put to the mat at 2:18 of the first round. Hiramoto&#8217;s overwhelming victory over the big star made him an undeniable favorite among martial arts fans, and his name was becoming well-known outside of the martial arts community.</p>
<p> But then an unexpected disaster struck.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" An audio clip was posted on X and found at ......"></div>
<figure id="attachment_389981" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-389981" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f5508fba"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/2867db9d871262e01542009908c82037.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-389981" class="wp-caption-text">The press conference was packed with a large number of media, including general newspapers.</figcaption></figure>
<p> On August 20, an account calling itself &#8220;Resurrection Japan&#8221; accused Hiramoto of doping on X (formerly twitter). The account released audio data of Hiramoto&#8217;s former trainer, martial artist Yukinori Akazawa (32), instructing Hiramoto on &#8220;how to give injections&#8221; to his fighter.</p>
<p> Akazawa then accused Hiramoto of doping under his own name. On August 28, he posted the following text after confessing that he himself had used <span class="strongInContent">banned</span> drugs.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> I have weighed which is the right thing to do as a human being, to clear Miki Asakura&#8217;s name or to keep this fact in the dark while meditating on the rotting of the Japanese martial arts world, and I have chosen to press charges. If I don&#8217;t tell, no one will find out. No one will know what I did in the past. But if I did not speak out, Mirai Asakura, a fighter, would retire halfway through her career due to the injustice that I was a part of, and Hiramoto would continue to commit unforgivable crimes because of my involvement. I just couldn&#8217;t live with that cross on my shoulders.</span></p>
<p> When Hiramoto held a press conference on September 2 to refute the doping allegations, many reporters, including those from the Asahi Shimbun and other general newspapers, gathered there. This showed the high level of public interest.</p>
<p> Hiramoto said he met Akazawa three years ago and learned MMA techniques and the know-how to fight overseas. Mr. Akazawa seconds two fights, leading them to victory, and Hiramoto could not hide his bewilderment <span class="strongInContent">, saying, &#8220;I can&#8217;t believe it.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I didn&#8217;t do anything that violated doping. Nor is there any fact that I asked him to.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> In the second part of the article, &#8220;[Akazawa-san came to the gym&#8230;] Ren Hiramoto reveals the truth about the &#8216;doping scandal&#8217; for the first time,&#8221; Hiramoto cuts to the heart of the &#8220;doping scandal&#8221; himself in an exclusive interview with FRIDAY Digital, which follows this article.</p>
<figure id="attachment_389982" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-389982" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1b0832ee"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/2b62624f607bfc316e9abc1c059779cd.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-389982" class="wp-caption-text"> When we turned our attention to the doping scandal, he was puzzled, but carefully spun his words.</figcaption></figure>
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<p> Read the second part of the article, &#8221; <a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/389970">[Akazawa-san came to the gym&#8230;] Ren Hiramoto reveals the truth about the &#8220;doping scandal&#8221; for the first time</a>.</p>
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 Daisuke Iwasaki

 Hiroyuki Komatsu

 On July 28, Ren Hiramoto KO'd Mirai Asakura in the main event of "Cho-RIGIN.3" held at Saitama Super Arena. After the match, Ren Hiramoto opened up about the doping scandal she was involved in.

Exclusive Confession] Ren Hiramoto Reveals Her Heart After Press Conference on Alleged Doping Scandal

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