This previous weekend, Rizin held Rizin 51 from Nagoya on the newly opened IG Area. Drawing a reported crowd of 17,000, the present had many highlights. They ranged from the finals of the heavyweight Grand Prix, the semi-finals of the flyweight Grand Prix, two title fights, and one of many craziest fights of the 12 months.
Rizin 51: Genji Umeno
Genji Umeno (2-0) has joined the lengthy record of kickboxers who’ve transitioned to MMA. Some have been profitable whereas others have didn’t adapt to the multilayered sport. Umeno appears to be the previous, having received this, his second MMA struggle. He took on former Okay-1 kickboxer Ryusei Ashizawa, who entered this match with 4 MMA fights, having received two.
In one of many craziest back-and-forth fights of the 12 months, these two went swinging as quickly because the bell rang. Umeno proved to be the extra versatile fighter, having the ability to take down Ashizawa and making an attempt to submit him with a guillotine and triangle choke.
However the momentum shifted within the third spherical. Ashizawa knocked down Umeno and delivered some foot stomps to his head. He made one essential mistake. He grabbed the ropes, which is in opposition to the principles. The ref referred to as for a break and gave Ashizawa a yellow card. The yellow card value him a degree and a proportion of his purse.
The 2 continued to struggle strongly forwards and backwards, and the struggle ended with each males battered and exhausted.
Umeno all the time had the harmful Muay Thai putting in his arsenal, however since transitioning to MMA, he has proven an evolving grappling and submission sport. Contemplating that’s the hardest facet of MMA to adapt to, if he continues evolving at this present tempo, he’ll be a well-rounded MMA fighter very quickly.
A great opponent could be one other kickboxer turned MMA fighter, Kouzi. The 2 have a historical past in kickboxing, so there’s a built-in storyline for his or her potential struggle.
Rizin 51: Razhabali Shaydullaev
33 seconds. That’s all Rizin featherweight champion Razhabali Shaydullaev (16-0) wanted for his first title protection. “You may’t beat him! You may’t cease him,” yelled Michael Schiavello on commentary after Shaydullaev improved his undefeated document to 16-0. Among the many different loopy stats of Shaydullaev embody ending each opponent and has YET to see a 3rd spherical.
As quickly because the spherical started, you may see Shaydullaev had the utmost confidence in what could possibly be his hardest struggle thus far. All it took was a proper cross to knock down Kolesnik. He swarmed on prime of him, under-hooked his shoulder to forestall him from defending himself, laid some floor and pound, and the ref waved off the struggle.
Shaydullaev is without doubt one of the prime 5 fighters outdoors the UFC. The man is not a prospect. It’s not about whether or not he’ll win, however how he’ll win. He’s leagues above the competitors at 145 in Rizin. The one struggle that might make sense is to tackle his hardest problem but: light-weight champion Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza. If he defeated Satoshi, it might be the crowning achievement of his profession to date.
Rizin 51: Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza
Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza (20-3) has been on a tear within the light-weight division. He has completed all his opponents however one and had efficiently defended his title for the fifth time. The query was would he select to strike with striker Yoshinori Horie or use his bread and butter elite jiu-jitsu.
As quickly because the struggle began, Souza dived in for a takedown and backpacked Horie. It was then a matter of time earlier than Satoshi sank in a rear-naked choke for the win in slightly below two minutes.
Satoshi’s improvement as an MMA fighter has been exceptional. Close to the start, his putting was tepid and timid. He was additionally afraid to get hit. However he has now grow to be a person with palms of stone, and if he doesn’t really feel like putting, he’s all the time acquired jiu-jitsu to rely on.
As acknowledged earlier than, the struggle to make is a superfight in opposition to Razhabali Shaydullaev. It might be each an incredible check for the fighters and could possibly be some of the high-level superfights of all time.
Rizin 51: Yuki Motoya
Yuki Motoya (39-13, 1 NC) is the prime instance of educating a canine new methods may not all the time be one of the best. At one level, he fell an excessive amount of in love along with his putting and it brought on him to lose fights that he maybe ought to have received. As soon as he fell again on his elite MMA grappling, he began to select up main wins over high-level competitors, together with loads of youthful guys who you may need anticipated to beat him.
In his Flyweight Grand Prix semi-final struggle in opposition to Makoto Shinryu, Motoya was in a position to out-grapple and out-strike the previous CFFC champion. He was in a position to take down, sweep, and take the again of Shinryu a number of instances.
Motoya will now go on to face Hiromasa Ougikubo within the Flyweight Grand Prix finals.
