RIZIN FF News

Harry Kettle - January 3, 2020

RIZIN 20 was viewed as an objectively fun show by many of the fans that tuned in to watch, and with reports suggesting that all 26,000 available seats were sold out at the Saitama Super Arena for the New Year’s Eve spectacular. Alas, while it may have been a spectacular set of fights for the fans to enjoy, it doesn’t appear as if they were able to translate that into a successful night in terms of viewership ratings.

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.

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).

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.

Thomas Taylor - December 29, 2019

Former UFC fighter Daron Cruickshank has found himself under fire after racist comments he made during an April visit to Japan have come to light. Cruickshank, who previously competed in the UFC lightweight division, has spent the last few years of his career fighting for Japan’s RIZIN Fighting Federation. During an April visit to Japan, the former UFC fighter made some controversial comments, suggesting that Japanese people eat dogs.

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.

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.

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.

Natasha Hooper - November 15, 2019

Kyoji Horiguchi plans to avenge his loss against Kai Asakura will have to be put on hold. The Rizin and Bellator champion Horiguchi (28-3) has been forced to withdraw from the upcoming Rizin 20 bout against Asakura (14-1) due to a damaged meniscus and torn ACL.

Tom Taylor - October 9, 2019

On December 29, Bellator MMA will make its debut in Japan. One of the highlights of this event will be a showdown between MMA legends Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Fedor Emelianenko. This news was announced at a joint press conference between Bellator and RIZIN Fighting Federation early on Wednesday morning (Wednesday night in Japan).

Tom Taylor - October 4, 2019

Sergio Pettis was scheduled to battle Kai Kara-France at UFC 245, but was pulled from the matchup when it came to light that his current UFC contract has concluded. Pettis is now exploring free agency, and from the sounds of it, he can expect some interest from Japan’s RIZIN Fighting Federation. Speaking to BJPENN.com’s Tom Taylor, RIZIN CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara commented on Pettis’ free agency. He believes the long-time UFC flyweight contender could be a great addition to the RIZIN bantamweight division.

Adam Martin - September 9, 2019

Bellator and RIZIN are eyeing a year-end show in Japan featuring some of the best fighters from both promotions. Reports indicate Bellator president Scott Coker and RIZIN bossman Nobuyuki Sakakibara are in talks for a main event between Fedor Emelianenko and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, as well as a light heavyweight co-main event between Ryan Bader and Jiri Prochazka. Veteran MMA scribe Josh Gross of The Athletic shared the news via Twitter that Bellator and RIZIN hope to have a card December 29 in Japan, and they hope to bill it as Emelianenko’s final fight in Japan.

Cole Shelton - August 18, 2019

RIZIN FF and Bellator bantamweight champion, Kyoji Horiguchi returned to the cage in the main event of RIZIN 18. There, the champ was taking Kai Asakura in a non-title bout.

Drake Riggs - June 2, 2019

RIZIN touched down in Kobe for the first time ever with RIZIN 16. And as per usual, the promotion delivered with plenty of great fights. The first of the final six bouts saw the fan favorite, Daron Cruickshank make his return to the RIZIN ring when he took on the rising lightweight, Tofiq Musayev.

Drake Riggs - June 1, 2019

RIZIN 16 is kicking off the June MMA calendar in style as two titles will be decided! One of which will see two champions square off… again. In the evening’s co-main event, a rematch three years in the making will see either redemption or a G.O.A.T.’s continued solidification.

Drake Riggs - April 29, 2019

In MMA’s lightest division, the spotlight isn’t too bright in North America, but the fighters are still lighting things up. Leading the way for them in the West is the Invicta FC atomweight champion, Jinh Yu Frey (8-3). After six fights in the promotion, the seventh was her crowning moment when she defeated Minna Grusander via unanimous decision. Since then, Frey has successfully defended the title once by defeating Grusander in their instant rematch.

Drake Riggs - April 26, 2019

The end of 2018 marked a new era of sorts when it comes to cross-promotion in MMA as Bellator and RIZIN teamed up like never before. For RIZIN’s annual big New Year’s Eve show, in 2018 that was RIZIN 14, one of their biggest stars, Kyoji Horiguchi would fight for the inaugural bantamweight title. His opponent would be none other than Bellator’s bantamweight champion, Darrion Caldwell.

Drake Riggs - April 21, 2019

RIZIN 15 went down on Sunday morning for those stateside and it acted as the first RIZIN event of 2019. In the first MMA bout of the night, top strawweight prospect, Kanako Murata made her return to the RIZIN ring on short notice to take on Mexico’s Saray Orozco at flyweight.