RIZIN FF News
RIZIN 26 results: Kyoji Horiguchi gets his vengeance, reclaims title
Tom Taylor - December 31, 2020
On New Years Eve in Japan (Thursday morning in North America), RIZIN Fighting Federation wrapped up the year with the stacked RIZIN 26 event. The card was headlined by a bantamweight title fight between reigning champion Kai Asakura and former champion Kyoji Horiguchi. The bout was a rematch of a non-title fight that Asakura won by knockout. This time around, Horiguchi evened the score with a first-round TKO, reclaiming the title and reasserting himself as one of the best bantamweights on earth.
Minowaman previews "explosively inspiring, wacky fight" at RIZIN 26
Tom Taylor - December 30, 2020
Minowaman, a legend among hardcore fight fans, is headed to the RIZIN Fighting Federation ring. The 44-year-old, who has competed in well over 100 mixed martial arts bouts and many pro wrestling matches, will take on jūryō-ranked sumo Tsuyoshi Sudario at RIZIN 26 inside the Saitama Super Arena on New Years Eve.
Takanori Gomi returns at RIZIN 26 for 'special standing bout' with Kouzi
Drake Riggs - December 21, 2020
As per usual, RIZIN is closing out the year with a bang. For 2020, it’s RIZIN 26, and to fully complete the lineup, “The Fireball Kid” Takanori Gomi is back. The promotion held a press conference on Monday to announce the finishing touches on the card. Which included the lightweight legend being booked for a “special standing bout” exhibition with Koji “Kouzi” Tanaka.
Rizin boss interested in signing Anderson Silva: "I would like to help him fulfill his wishes"
Tom Taylor - November 27, 2020
Rizin Fighting Federation boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara is interested in signing former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva to his promotion. Silva last fought on Halloween night, when he was stopped by Uriah Hall. Shortly after this setback, he was released from the UFC roster, but he emphasized that he intends to continue fighting nonetheless.
RIZIN champ Seo Hee Ham claims management has been embezzling money
Tom Taylor - January 3, 2020
UFC veteran Seo Hee Ham, who is currently the RIZIN atomweight champion, claims she’s the victim of embezzlement. Ham put forth this allegation on her Instagram account, claiming that manager Hidekatsu Morooka and with his wife have been embezzling money from her since the early days of her career. In that time, she alleges they’ve stolen more than $26,000 from her.
VIDEO | Jiri Prochazka decimates UFC veteran CB Dollaway, gets called out by Ryan Bader
Tom Taylor - December 31, 2019
CB Dollaway’s RIZIN debut, which went down on Tuesday’s action-packed RIZIN 20 card, didn’t go the way he had planned. Instead, the 20-fight UFC veteran was decimated by the promotion’s ferocious light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka in the first round. See Prochazka’s crushing knockout victory below (via Kyle Johnson on Twitter).
VIDEO | Patricky Freire scores nasty soccer kick KO over Luiz Gustavo at RIZIN 20
Harry Kettle - December 31, 2019
Patricky Freire secured his place in the final of the Lightweight Grand Prix wit a superb soccer kick knockout over Luiz Gustavo at RIZIN 20. Coming into the event the expectation was that Freire would be viewed as one of the favorites, especially after his dominant quarter-final win over Tatsuya Kawajiri back at RIZIN 19 in October. In the semis earlier this evening he was able to live up to the hype in a big way as he finished Gustavo off in less than half a minute.
RIZIN 20 results: Manel Kape wins title on unforgettable card
Tom Taylor - December 31, 2019
Early on Tuesday morning, RIZIN Fighting Federation promoted its final MMA card of the decade in RIZIN 20, and it was an absolute thriller. Topped by a bantamweight title fight between Kai Asakura, who recently stunned Kyoji Horiguchi, and Manel Kape, it also featured appearances from names like Tenshin Nasukawa, Seo Hee Ham, Rena Kubota, Patricky Freire, Jiri Prochazka, and CB Dollaway.
Simon Biyong is chasing Rizin gold
Alfredo Zullino - December 23, 2019
African mixed martial arts is definitely on the rise. Nigerian-born Kamaru Usman just defended his UFC welterweight title against Colby Covington, and fellow countryman Israel Adesanya unified the middleweight title by defeating Robert Whittaker just two months ago. Now, Italian-Cameroonian Simon Biyong (6-1 MMA) will look to continue that trend of success in his Rizin Fighting Federation debut on New Year’s eve in Tokyo, Japan.
Benson Henderson out, Michael Chandler receives new opponent for Bellator Japan
Natasha Hooper - December 5, 2019
The anticipated rematch between Michael Chandler and Benson Henderson will have to be put on hold as Henderson is out of their scheduled Bellator Japan bout. Henderson has suffered an injury, forcing him to withdraw from the Bellator Japan card.
CB Dollaway leaves UFC, gets RIZIN title shot
Tom Taylor - December 4, 2019
After receiving a two-year suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), middleweight veteran CB Dollaway has parted ways with the UFC. Yet his fighting days are not over yet. On Tuesday, it was announced that Dollaway has signed with Japanese promotion RIZIN Fighting Federation. Dollaway will make his RIZIN debut on the promotion’s big New Years Eve show, where he’ll take on the reigning light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka.
Kyoji Horiguchi relinquishes Bellator belt
Tom Taylor - November 27, 2019
Weeks after he relinquished the Rizin bantamweight title, Kyoji Horiguchi has let go of the Bellator bantamweight belt as well. Bellator MMA announced this unfortunate news in a Wednesday afternoon press release.