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After a long wait, the highly anticipated debut of Rizin FF has finally arrived from the mecca of MMA, Japan. The first of two events this week will be headlined by a catchweight division bout as Kazushi Sakuraba faces Shinya Aoki. Also, the heavyweight grand prix kicks off and Bellator MMA veteran James Thompson is in action.
Main Event
Rizin FF Catchweight Division Fight
Kazushi “The Gracie Hunter†Sakuraba (26-16-1-2NC) vs. Shinya “Tobikan Judan†Aoki (28-6-0-1NC)
Sakuraba will be returning to MMA action for the first time in over four years and he has not earned a victory in just over six years. Aoki will enter the fight riding an eight fight winning streak and he is the current One Championships Lightweight Champion. Sakuraba’s last win came at DREAM 12 in October 2009, where he defeated Zelg Galesic by first round submission. Aoki will be competing in Japan for the first time in just around a year, his last bout in Japan came at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye ‘14 and he defeated Yuki Yamamoto. Sakuraba has been competing in the rings of New Japan in recent years and has been out of MMA for a while now, Aoki gets a quick first round submission.
Rizin FF Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round
Satoshi Ishii (14-4-1) vs. Jiri “Denisa†Prochazka (14-2-1)
Ishii will be competing in a tournament for the first time in his professional MMA career and he has defeated a total of eight UFC veterans in his career. Prochazka has won eight of his last nine bouts entering the tournament and he has not suffered a defeat in two years. Ishii will want to ground Prochazka as quickly as possible, which he will do and to submit Prochazka in the second round.
Rizin FF Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round
Goran “Ghost†Reljic (15-5-0) vs. Vadim Nemkov (4-0-0)
Reljic has won four of his last five fights and he is a four fight veteran of the UFC, winning one of those bouts in the promotion. Nemkov has already competed twice this year and none of his four bouts as a pro went past the opening round. Nemkov will look to overwhelm Reljic with strikes for a quick win, but Reljic will ground him on route to earning a decision.
Rizin FF Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round
Teodoras Aukstoulis (7-2-0) vs. Bruno Henrique Cappelozza (7-3-0)
Aukstoulis will enter the fight on a three fight winning streak, but he has only competed two times in the last three years. Cappelozza will enter the fight riding a four fight winning streak and he is a longtime veteran of the Jungle Fight promotion. This fight should be mostly contested on the feet while it lasts, but it will be Cappelozza getting a late TKO win.
Rizin FF Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round
Muhammed “King Mo†Lawal (16-4-0-1NC) vs. Brett “The Spartan†McDermott (5-2-0)
Lawal will enter the fight riding a four fight winning streak and he will be competing in his fifth MMA tournament since turning pro. McDermott has won just one of two fights thus far in 2015 and he holds a win over UFC veteran Oli Thompson. Lawal is one of the best tournament fighters in all of MMA, he mixes up the ground game and strikes to earn a decision.
Rizin FF Heavyweight Grand Prix Reserve Fight
Yuta Uchida (0-0-0) vs. Valentin Moldavsky (1-0-0)
Uchida will be making his professional MMA debut in this fight and he has no amateur experience to speak of. Moldavsky made his professional MMA debut earlier this year at Professional Combat Sambo, defeating Karen Karapetyan by submission. There is not much known about any of the competitors in this bout, but I will go with Moldavsky getting the first round submission.
Rizin FF Featherweight Division Fight
Hiroyuki “Streetfight Bancho†Takaya (20-11-2) vs. Daiki “DJ.Taiki†Hata (17-9-7)
Takaya will enter the fight riding a three fight winning streak and this will be the third time in five years he has competed in a New Years Eve bout in Japan. Hata will be returning to action after a year-plus layoff and he enters the fight on a three fight winning streak. These are two of the better strikers to be competing on the card, but it will be Takaya getting a quick TKO win over Hata.
Rizin FF Bantamweight Division Fight
Hideo Tokoro (32-28-2) vs. Kizaemon Saiga (2-0-0)
Tokoro will enter the bout on a three fight losing streak and two of those three losses have come to some UFC veterans. Saika has competed thus far exclusively in the Pancrase promotion and he last defeated Ryo Takagi at Pancrase 264. Tokoro has an absolutely massive experience advantage when compared to Saiga, Tokoro grounds out Saiga to get a decision.
Rizin FF Middleweight Division Fight
AJ “The Mercenary†Matthews (8-3-0) vs. Anatoly Tokov (21-1-0)
Matthews has spent the last four years competing in Bellator MMA and he holds a win over Strikeforce veteran Rudy Bears. Tokov will enter the fight riding a fourteen fight winning streak and he is the current M-1 Global Middleweight Champion. Matthews is the low man on the Bellator MMA totem poll for the fighters sent to Rizin FF, Tokov gets the quick first round finish in this one.
Rizin FF Flyweight Division Fight
Yuki Motoya (15-4-0) vs. Felipe Efrain (9-2-0)
Motoya will enter the fight on the strength of a seven fight winning streak and all but one of his fights came in the DEEP promotion. Efrain will be competing for the first time since losing a Totan FC Flyweight Title bout to Tim Elliot at Titan FC 35. Motoya is the better skilled fighter when compared to Efrain, Motoya earns a blowout decision over Efrain.
Rizin FF Heavyweight Division Fight
Carlos Toyota (6-7-1) vs. Kirill Sidelnikov (7-4-0)
Toyota has won three of his last four fights and all three of those wins have all come via first round stoppages. Sidelnikov will be returning to MMA after a five-plus year absence, last defeating Vladimir Kuchenko at Lipetsk Mix Federation. This one is going to be nothing short of a slugfest, but Sidelnikov is returning after a long absence, which leads me to believe that Toyota will walk away with a first round stoppage.
Rizin FF Heavyweight Division Fight
Tsuyoshi “TK†Kosaka (26-18-2) vs. James “The Colossus†Thompson (20-15-0-1NC)
Kosaka will be fighting for the first time in just about a decade, with his last bout coming against UFC veteran Mark Hunt at PRIDE FC: Total Elimination Absolute. Thompson has won four of his last five fights, which includes a win over pro wrestling superstar Bobby Lashley. Thompson stated in interviews that he has not trained for this bout, but Kosaka is coming off of a decade layoff, Thompson wins with a first round TKO in an ugly contest.
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