MMA has changed a great deal since 2007, the year when Pride FC closed its doors. The tastes of MMA fans, though? Those are pretty much the same.
The UFC has long been content in offering fans a package that exclusively features reasonably high-level fights between largely interchangeable competitors. While that's enough to tide over many, longtime fans still longingly remember the early aughts, when MMA events were exclusively found through satellite providers and VHS cassettes. Even more so, they yearn for the days when MMA had a unique, distinct flair that couldn't be found anywhere else.
In this transitional era, defined by thick coats of polish, omnipresent network jingles and embarrassingly inept apparel companies, that void has never felt deeper. The UFC has successfully removed fighters' abilities to stand out from the pack without promotional approval. Calling a fight night an "event" borders on irony. Cards are being slowly molded into just another sports-like program, no different from Saturday afternoon baseball or Thursday Night Football.
Bellator has tried admirably to fill this niche, yes. Unfortunately, the promotion's unremarkable monthly offerings detract from their larger "tentpole" events.
MMA over the last two years, for the most part, has been defined by monotony.
Enter Rizin Fighting Federation.
Founded by former Pride FC executive Nobuyuki Sakakibara, Rizin suddenly burst onto the MMA scene with the announcement that they had snatched MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko out of the UFC's clutches, and were planning to build a signature New Year's Eve show around his return to MMA. While the company remains something of a mystery even to this day, they have made one thing crystal clear. Their events are going to be super-duper fun.
Step your game up, Zuffa pic.twitter.com/KFZM4zaJ3E
— caposa (@GrabakaHitman) December 29, 2015
Making their debut in the wee hours of Tuesday morning in Saitama, Japan, Rizin FF put on what could be remembered as the best, most exciting show of 2015.
The centerpiece of the night, naturally, was the fights. What the card lacked in name value, it more than made up for with exciting new talent, who successfully delivered first-round stoppages in nearly every fight. The festivities never dulled as the card chugged along at an almost blistering pace, with doctors (metaphorically) scraping the losers off the mat with a spatula in order to hurry the next fighters into the ring (a sharp contrast from the marathon-length Fox Sports 1 cards).
Sandwiched in between? Impassioned speeches from the hometown favorites, homages to the big names in attendance and, most importantly, elaborate entrances to the ring.
The result was a unique, fun and supremely entertaining card. While it's unclear what lies ahead for Rizin after their New Year's Eve card, they made a very, very strong first impression.
Here are some of the highlights and key takeaways of the night:
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka Won a Fight in 2015!
What a time to be alive! Forty-five years old and nine years removed from his last non-worked fight, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka jerked the proverbial curtain open with a win. Not only did he win a fight, but he actually defeated serviceable heavyweight journeyman James "The Colossus" Thompson.
The Rings alum a chance against Thompson was a serious underdog in the minds of fans, given the difference in age and activity. While the Colossus has never been regarded as a top fighter, he has frustrated more than a couple of promotions by exposing their top stars as pretenders and had fought as recently as November. Most were expecting him to make quick work of Kohsaka, and it initially seemed like he would do just that.
Thompson poured on offense early, wobbling Kohsaka and getting him to his back. Unfortunately, that blitz nearly emptied his gas tank, leaving him gasping for breath just 90 seconds into the fight. While Kohsaka didn't put on an especially strong showing himself, he managed to muster a brutal combination early in the second round that forced Thompson through the ropes. This win does very little for Kohsaka, but this was a huge moral victory for the Japanese crowd.
Russia Wins Big
While Emelianenko didn't fight Tuesday morning, Russia was well represented on the card and went undefeated throughout. Vadim Nemkov, Kirill Sidelnikov, Anatoly Tokov and Valentin Moldavsky all scored impressive first-round wins. While Russians have taken over American MMA over the last two years, don't think for a second that their talent pool has been emptied by the UFC and Bellator.
Cruiserweight Tournament Starts with Five Impressive Performances
One of the most important takeaways from Rizin's first show is the knowledge that talented, young light heavyweights still exist out there. That was on full display during the cruiserweight tournament fights.
Between RIZIN and Lawler-Condit, we may see unprecedented levels of violence this week. pic.twitter.com/ET1BrPPUAV
— caposa (@GrabakaHitman) December 29, 2015
While Bellator's "King" Mo Lawal picked up an unsurprising win over BAMMA's Brett McDermott, the other four winners all managed to pick up comparably impressive wins against stiffer competition. In addition to the aforementioned Nemkov and Moldavsky, Teodoras Aukstuolis starched Bruno Henrique Cappelozza and Jiri Prochazka stunned the crowd by making quick work of fan favorite Satoshi Ishii.
While there are basically no developmental light heavyweight or heavyweight talents in the western hemisphere, things seem to be getting quite interesting across the Atlantic. It's likely time to take a good, long look at the European circuit.
The semifinal round features Lawal vs. Aukstuolis and Nemkov vs. Prochazka, with Moldavksy working injury replacement duties.
Main Event Removes Some of Rizin's Shine
The one big knock on Rizin tonight was the main event, a match between submission wizard Shinya Aoki and MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba. While Sakuraba holds a special place in MMA fans' hearts from his Gracie Killer days, there was an undeniable feeling of dread heading into his fight with Aoki. Alas, any and all doubts about the matchup were proven correct.
Kazushi Sakuraba & Shinya Aoki #RizinFF #Rizin pic.twitter.com/MIp0UvNVMu
— ZombieProphet (@ZProphet_MMA) December 29, 2015
Aoki was in full-mount position on Sakuraba before the ring bell was quiet, and he never left that spot. For what felt like an eternity (but was actually about six minutes), he nailed Saku with uncontested gift-wrap ground-and-pound as the aged legend struggled to escape but never came close to doing so.
The outcome was completely expected, of course. Sakuraba is 14 years older than the still-relevant Aoki, and he exited the sport back in 2011 while riding a four-fight losing streak. That, however, didn't make this fight any easier to stomach.
Full Results (via MMAJunkie.com):
- Shinya Aoki def. Kazushi Sakuraba via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 5:56
- Jiri Prochazka def. Satoshi Ishii via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 1:36 – heavyweight tournament opening round
- Vadim Nemkov def. Goran Reljic via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 2:58 – heavyweight tournament opening round
- Teodoras Aukstuolis def. Bruno Cappelozza via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:32 – heavyweight tournament opening round
- Muhammed Lawal def. Brett McDermott via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 9:10 – heavyweight tournament opening round
- Valentin Moldavsky def Yuta Uchida via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:20 – heavyweight tournament alternate fight
- Hiroyuki Takaya def. Daiki Hata via unanimous decision
- Hideo Tokoro def. Kizaemon Saiga via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 5:15
- Anatoly Tokov def. A.J. Matthews via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:55
- Felipe Efrain def. Yuki Motoya via TKO (punches) – Round 1 (fight to be ruled no-contest due to Efrain missing weight)
- Kirill Sidelnikov def. Carlos Toyota via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:32
- Tsuyoshi Kohsaka def. James Thompson via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:58
