Happy New Year. Looking forward to another year with you.
Last year I wrote fewer than 20 posts. Pretty thin.
This year I want at least 40. I've got one draft ready and two themes already set, so I should get a few out this month.
Anyway — every New Year's Eve I go to RIZIN at Saitama Super Arena, so the first post of the year is my take from the show.
[2022] I went to RIZIN 33. Fight night report.
[2021] I went to RIZIN 26
Any fight fan would call year-end 2022 RIZIN the greatest card in the promotion's history.
It was a team crossover between Bellator — the No. 2 MMA org in the U.S. (UFC is No. 1) — and Japan's RIZIN.
A New Year's Eve without Asakura or Nasukawa Tenshin is rare these days, but the heat more than filled that hole — it was RIZIN at its hottest ever.
The crossover matchups were drool-worthy on their own, and every other fight was high-level with real stakes. I was hyped the whole way.
Every year there's a fight where I think "I could hit the bathroom here" or "I might zone out a bit" — not at RIZIN 40.
RIZIN keeps a tight tempo with barely a gap between fights, so you have to stay locked in.
I'm a member of RIZIN 100 CLUB, the official archive/fan-club-ish service that launched around the end of last year.
The site UI/UX is so bad I barely use it — I've kept paying mostly as a donation to RIZIN and the fighters — but buying advance tickets through that service got me the best seats I've ever had. Extremely lucky.
One venue note: the monitor placement felt off. I was in second-level seats left of the entrance gate looking in. Besides the gate itself doubling as a screen, I couldn't see the usual gate monitors near the ceiling.
Gate monitors usually show the live fight, but close-ups of entrances and highlights were only on monitors behind me up high — a bit inconvenient.
I love watching fighters walk out, and I want highlights too, so that was a letdown. More a Saitama Super Arena issue than RIZIN ops, I think — still, I'd love a fix.
That ran long on monitors.
New Year's Eve is my favorite day of the year. Isn't it wonderful that the last day of the year is the most fun? Best feeling.
The routine: lunch and beer with my best friend before RIZIN, watch the show, head back to Tokyo, drink more, hit the first shrine visit of the year. This year's card itself was the best yet — no complaints.
Every year I get a day this good thanks to the RIZIN team. As always, I tip my hat to CEO Sakakibara — genius promoter. Flyers at the venue said his book drops in spring. I'll definitely buy it.
Even in post-fight pressers he's funny, sharp, and thoughtful about floor ops — an outstanding leader. Cool as hell.
Last year the TV deal with Fuji fell apart. Early on, U-NEXT live streams had server issues and things looked shaky — then THE MATCH and Asakura vs. Mayweather were historic successes.
With the whole country hotter on combat sports (Asakura's Breaking Down definitely helped), RIZIN seems to have real confidence in PPV now.
Personally, no TV also fixed the grudges I'd poured into last year's and the year before's blogs.
Meaning: the commentary was too low-level, and the weird ring-announce theatrics drove me nuts — at RIZIN 40, without TV in the mix, that stuff was gone and my stress dropped a lot.
Flip it and it's like Gongitsune: ah, that was Fuji's doing all along!
Live, no TV also means no padding the schedule for broadcast — you don't end up killing time. (If TV starts at 7, the arena ends up "on break" until 7.)
That said, TV is what turns it into mass entertainment and popularity — so don't make TV the villain. That fame feeds fighters' careers.
Long setup, but before the fight report: I've got a combat-sports YouTube channel I'm deep into right now, so let me mention it.
I found Jobin Channel late last year and I'm hooked.
Before Jobin, the only top-tier combat YouTube that really clicked for me was 「総合格闘技 解説チャンネル / MMA」, which I've recommended here before — now there's another.
Jobin is a former DEEP champ, now a pro gamer and comedian — the technical breakdowns widen how you watch, he's funny, and I laugh every time.
It's the channel I'm most excited to see update; he already dropped year-end analysis and I was thrilled. New Year's gift.
He did DEEP commentary the other day — most Japanese-audience-friendly commentary ever. Explaining fights so people without fighter knowledge can enjoy them is a gift.
RIZIN commentary is fatally unfun for an MMA event; as a fan I want that fixed.
(Sometimes I even wonder if Nobuhiko Takada cares about RIZIN as MMA. The opening "Detekoiyaa" still hits, so I can't trash him too hard.)
I also subscribe to Shinya Aoki's note. Aoki writes from a competitor's view and throws in behind-the-scenes gossip about ops and fighters — always fun.
As Jobin says, Aoki is top-tier Japanese MMA PFP (pound-for-pound), and the fact that guy can write and chooses to publish is a gift for fans.
Aoki — thank you, always.
Having more side-reading content to stay in the post-fight haze is great.
When I write these RIZIN reports I rarely have people around who can go deep on fights with me, so this stuff feeds that hunger.
Also, Tako's Take【格闘技バラエティ】 — more fighter lore and drama than straight fight breakdown — is insanely fun.
It's comedic, but you feel real intelligence from the creator.
This got long. Onto the fight report. Is anyone still reading? Worrying — but I get to write about a legendary card, so I'm doing it.
[Fight 1 / YUSHI vs. Tatsuya Nakazawa]
Result: YUSHI WIN [R3 decision]
Abrupt take for round one, but this fight was rough. Where did all that fight-love from above go — but live it was painful.
Even when the matchup dropped, a lot of fans went "wait, this is what you're putting on a year-end mega card?" — and the fear landed in the worst way.
Nakazawa is a V-cinema older guy who calls himself a street fighter. With so little striking or grappling depth on either side, it turned into a salt-fight like high-school recess.
The whole arena went cold from the opener — waves of awkward laughs.
Proof: a fan near me from R1 muttered, "Wait, we have to watch three more rounds of this?" I laughed.
YUSHI seems like a genuinely good guy off-camera, and he's always shown up for past RIZIN cards without complaining — so ops clearly trust him.
If I met him I'd probably like him; he's high on my "would become a fan in person" ranking.
Not mocking him — YUSHI never talks trash, so I strongly think Breaking Down is a better home for him.
The whole fight was tough; the worst parts were Nakazawa's walkout being the longest of any fighter on the card, and watching YUSHI's "ugh, here we go" wry smile while Nakazawa just clung in the grappling with no offense.
That face is supposed to be ours. I held my head.
I don't want this in the RIZIN arena. Keep it off New Year's Eve and the numbered main cards — put it on RIZIN Trigger. After this, I'm curious how ops handle YUSHI going forward.
If he shows up next New Year's Eve I'll despair. I'll cry.
[Fight 2 / "Black Panther" Vainqueur vs. Sho Patrick Usami]
Result: Usami WIN [R1 0:45 KO (standing punch)]
After that opener, the whole building treated this as the real opening fight.
Striker vs. striker.
Vainqueur had weight on his side but still dominated Dominator on the feet in his debut (loss), beat a typical mushy RIZIN import in fight two, then got submitted fast by Takeda — and here we are.
Vainqueur feels less like "I want to be No. 1" heat and more like a popular guy earnestly trying to meet expectations.
So this time he was basically a measuring stick for Usami.
Result: left hook KO. Beautiful finish.
The arena that was starving after fight one lit up instantly.
My friend next to me got so fired up at the KO that he started pounding near my chest — I thought I might pass out before we finished watching RIZIN.
Usami's timing is sharp, he brings pressure, and he's fun to watch as a fighter.
Vainqueur wasn't smaller, but from the start there was no sense he could push Usami back.
Also, Vainqueur might be getting chinny.
No grappling expected — pure striking was easy to call going in — and getting KO'd like that makes Vainqueur's next matchmaking look hard.
Personally I'd like Usami next vs. Yachi, Akira, or Juri Ohara.
Even if he beats Yachi, the next tier of lightweights all can grapple, so it looks tough.
Come to think of it, Yachi took a nasty KO from Philippe Kimura at Ganryujima, so he might be quiet for a bit.
Satoshi is a different tier domestically. Outside Takeda, it's hard to see a Japanese fighter who can take Gustavo right now — if Usami gets there in a few years it gets fun.
More later, but Takeda doesn't look comfortable under striking pressure, and Ohara lost fairly clean too — I wish there were more lightweights who can handle striking and still be strong.
Thinking about lightweight, I always remember Mikuru Asakura beat Gustavo despite the weight gap — Asakura really is special.
So: Usami vs. Akira or Juri Ohara next, please!
[Fight 3 / Yoshitaka Nakahara vs. Chihiro Suzuki]
Result: Chihiro Suzuki WIN [R1 4:44 KO (standing punch)]
Really good fight.
Nakahara's résumé was clean, and the pre-fight vibe had Suzuki as a clear underdog.
Suzuki has that magic.
RIZIN keeps throwing him popular high-potential names like Hagiwara and Hiramoto — quiet can't-lose spots — and he keeps winning. Impressive.
Nakahara didn't look like he had huge physical pressure, but the craft was high and he was outstriking Suzuki early.
I wanted to see Suzuki handle Nakahara's grappling, but after landing clean early Nakahara got KO'd in that same flow.
Not seeing much of Suzuki's grappling is frustrating — but winning comes first. That "just win" streak feels like fighter talent.
Next I'd like him against someone with solid grappling and decent athleticism.
Kanehara or Majima, maybe. Majima keeps drawing tough matchups since joining RIZIN so the record doesn't shine, but every fight is fun — I like him.
[Fight 4 / Johnny Case vs. Nobumitsu Odachi]
Result: Johnny Case WIN [R1 0:36 TKO (ref stoppage: ground punches)]
Originally Case vs. Luiz Gustavo was a dream matchup; Gustavo got hurt and Odachi stepped in last-minute.
Pre-fight consensus had Case favored.
I was personally hyped. Jobin had broken down Case and coached Odachi directly, I'd heard — I wanted to see how much that stuck.
Result: total loss. Biggest skill gap of the whole card, visually.
Case is popular with Japanese fans; the live crowd was loud for him.
He'd been on a skid, so this should restore confidence — I hope he sticks around in RIZIN until he retires.
[Fight 5 / Yuki Motoya vs. Rogerio Bontorin]
Result: Motoya WIN R2 2:56 KO (standing knee)
Motoya is a fighter I have soft spots for — I love the style.
Quietly grinding alone at a regional gym and leveling up — whether that's ideal or not, I respect it.
Which is why watching him get grappled and KO'd by Inoue on my first live New Year's Eve two years ago stuck with me.
He also had a painful loss to Takizawa in the bantam GP.
Some fighters spiral after that. Motoya kept busy and stacking wins through 2022.
Against lesser names, sure — but Motoya finishes the job.
Rebuilding from zero until you get top-bantam cards again is mentally brutal and can feel endless — Motoya pulls it off.
For year-end he got former UFC ranked Rogerio Bontorin.
Pre-fight I pictured him dragging it to the ground and seeing how far that went.
The scary version of that path is the grappling loss to Patrick Mix (who just crushed Kyoji Horiguchi).
I didn't want that, and it didn't happen — he built the fight on the feet and finished with a knee.
Motoya is known for grappling, but he also traded hard with striker Kintaro and brought pressure — striking is solid.
Guard stays up, he doesn't eat big shots, so you watch him without panic.
Seeing him adjust styles against a former UFC ranked guy and win on the feet was refreshing.
Bontorin looked a bit slow; didn't feel like we'd seen the bottom of him — want more RIZIN appearances.
This year I want Motoya or Inoue with a belt.
[Fight 6 / Ren Hiramoto vs. Genji Umeno]
Result: R2 3:00 no contest / no decision
2022 might as well have been Hiramoto's year — presence was huge.
He's a walking controversy character, but you feel intelligence that isn't pure flame-bait.
Some people predicted Umeno as the opponent beforehand — and it was exactly Umeno.
Even for an exhibition-tagged fight, RIZIN slotting Umeno said they didn't want it to end as pure play — fight fans loved that.
Hiramoto scored a late KO look but time ran out with no winner.
Both come from stand-up, but elbows-allowed Muay Thai plus the weight dynamics favored Hiramoto — and still, he looks like pure talent.
Hiramoto's hand speed is elite. Absurdly fast. Same story when he fought Hagiwara — ridiculous speed.
That legendary win trading with K-1's Gaew tells you: talent pile.
He also put Dominator in despair.
His stance looks cool. Strong trunk, axis never wobbles — he never pulls off the line from attacks, just lands clean.
And the Shibatar / Kubo corner heat was peak. Who scripted that? Sasahara from RIZIN ops maybe? Shibatar alone makes me laugh — total entertainer.
Next for Hiramoto is announced vs. Yutaro Saito.
Saito is my favorite fighter in RIZIN history.
I love his all-around style, which is why fight two vs. Asakura crushed me.
After losing to Ushiku too, Saito looked like he'd lost some fire for the sport — personally sad.
Whether he rebuilds from zero like Motoya, or draws a line on the career and only takes fun cards as needed — I don't know.
I think it's the latter, which leaves me mixed. I like Hiramoto too, but I pick Saito to win clean. (Even if Hiramoto loses, his stock shouldn't drop — making it to this matchup at all is impressive.)
[Fight 7 / Hideo Tokoro vs. John Dodson]
Result: John Dodson WIN R1 1:43 TKO (ref stoppage: ground punches)
Live, you feel Tokoro's popularity. A star PRIDE made.
Dodson has fought Demetrious Johnson — current ONE superstar — twice; résumé-wise he's top RIZIN bantam/fly level.
Key was how much Dodson had declined, and whether Tokoro could get him to the mat — but Dodson hit hard, moved fast, wouldn't play grappling. No clear path to win.
Tokoro... he's 45 and still pouring passion into fighting — watching that moves you.
Still, this fight and the last one vs. Shinryu: when it becomes striking/physical instead of craft, you worry.
Going forward, gatekeeper-style spots like the Ota debut might be the most fun to watch.
Separate from the fight: Dodson's face and mannerisms are so charming, right? Hit me hard.
Post-fight interview too — humble, funny, seemed open to sticking with RIZIN. I want to root for him. Next: please Ogikubo!
[Fight 8 / Sudario Tsuyoshi vs. Junior Tafa]
Result: Junior Tafa WIN R1 1:38 TKO (ref stoppage: standing punches)
Sudario had been finishing everyone KO lately.
Looks like he's adapting as an MMA fighter (wrestling/grappling still early).
A bit of myth had built up — domestic competition gone, can he challenge the world? Then Junior Tafa.
I hadn't researched beforehand, so honestly I expected Sudario as usual.
Then the fight starts and Tafa fires a hard, fast middle kick and I thought, "ah, a real one showed up."
After that, punches for the KO.
Addendum: he did not get blasted with a middle kick. Memory fail. Sorry.
So where does Sudario go from here. Can he even get his striking to Tafa level?
And if he does — is that world level yet? Unclear.
With almost no grappling in the toolkit, this felt like seeing the floor again — what's the growth curve now?
If Tafa is a legit heavyweight, can they bring another strong foreign heavy next?
And can we see big foreign heavies clash like old PRIDE? If that happens I'll be so happy.
Peak K-1 star Mark Hunt was in the corner live — seeing him in person made me tear up a little.
[Fight 9 / Naoki Inoue vs. Kenta Takizawa]
Result: Naoki Inoue WIN R2 3:53 SUB (tap: armbar)
Inoue lost to Ogikubo last New Year's Eve and I thought it cost him serious career time.
Talent-wise clearly Japan top tier — overseas challenge was right there, then the loss.
Same applies to Kai Asakura: if either had worn the RIZIN belt, this year's Bellator bantam crossover might have been one of them — personally I wanted Inoue.
Win that night and we might have seen Bellator or a UFC return this year.
A loss is a loss, so what-ifs are tacky — but watching him dominate Takizawa, that feeling got stronger.
Inoue's striking and grappling are both elite — beautiful fights.
Punches are too fast. Reach is a head longer than most bantams; he overwhelms.
Beautiful fight.
Ogikubo dropped to fly, so bantam is vacant. Title fight among Kai, Inoue, Motoya feels likely.
Wrap a belt fast and go overseas — Inoue. Like Horiguchi and Satoshi, I start thinking "enough Japan fights already."
[Fight 10 / Seika Izawa vs. Park Si Woo]
Result: Seika Izawa WIN R3 decision (2-1)
Best women's card in Japanese combat sports history.
I thought Izawa vs. Ayaka Hamasaki was the peak — New Year's Eve just updated it.
Park feels more striker-leaning, but her takedown defense was sharp. Impressive.
Usually once Izawa shoots, it's her pace from there — not this time.
Izawa has a deep grappling bag, but with a lot of fence/ring-edge work, the attack patterns thinned and she stalled.
Same as Inoue: domestically she's out of opponents — go overseas. I want her against higher-level competition. ONE with Ham Seo-hee, maybe?
[Fight 11 / Koji Takeda vs. Gadzhi Rabadanov]
Result: Gadzhi Rabadanov WIN R3 decision (0-3)
Finally the Bellator crossover.
Takeda won Japanese fans' hearts beating Johnny Case.
Facing Nurmagomedov-camp Rabadanov, a hard night was obvious — but fan-brain still went "Takeda might figure it out."
He ate a big straight for a knockdown in R1 — felt like it could end — then survived.
From there it was physical and cardio; Rabadanov ahead, but Takeda didn't let the finish land — decision loss.
Like the earlier Yachi fight, Takeda often looks behind on striking defense.
Physically and mentally tough so he doesn't back up — but he eats shots with the guard down a lot.
The winning formula is "eat some to crash into grappling" — which means big risk of damage before that.
But the gas tank is insane. After all that wrestling/grappling he still looked better than Rabadanov in the cardio war late.
Imagining the training that builds that gas almost made me throw up.
Khabib Nurmagomedov was in the corner — live Khabib.
Seeing his back, the width shocked me. Fight that creature and you'd die in a second.
There's old YouTube of kid Khabib wrestling a little bear (literal bear) — I rewatch it sometimes. That kind of gifted childhood shouldn't be allowed.
Makes you feel how massive peak Fedor must have been too.
[Fight 12 / Kim Soo-chul vs. Juan Archuleta]
Result: Juan Archuleta WIN R3 decision (2-1)
Personally I think this was the best bout of the night.
Bellator fighters being scored round-by-round like boxing made MMA feel more like athlete sport.
Less "anything goes fighting," more competitive sport — rich to watch. I like it.
(Weird comparison to K-1, but I love Kubo vs. Petchmorakot for similar reasons.)
Kim Soo-chul — personality and style — I like a lot.
First, thanks for showing up as RIZIN's representative. Really grateful.
Across from him: Juan Archuleta, who beat Patrick Mix — the guy who crushed Motoya and Horiguchi.
Want to rewatch — waiting on the official upload.
Archuleta has power, of course, and absurd hand speed.
The Bellator side as a whole was a full tier or two up in athleticism and striking hand speed.
That said, plenty of people said Kim would have won under normal RIZIN judging — but Archuleta still controlled the fight throughout.
Almost every takedown landed. Kim still threatened front chokes at times and got close in R3.
Watching the pre-decision crowd work, it felt very North American fight-night — and Kim already looked like he knew he'd lost.
Archuleta is a huge entertainer too.
[Fight 13 / Hiromasa Ogikubo vs. Kyoji Horiguchi]
Result: Kyoji Horiguchi WIN R3 decision (0-3)
As predicted, Horiguchi win.
The second the matchup dropped, a lot of people treated it as "Horiguchi wins, so Bellator's first W is locked."
As Aoki wrote on note too: the fun wasn't really whether Ogikubo could get revenge — it was how Horiguchi would look dropping to his natural flyweight.
On paper, even if Ogikubo's GP win over Kai Asakura (fractured) looked clean, you still couldn't see a clear path vs. Horiguchi.
Horiguchi built the fight with his fast calf kicks.
Classic Horiguchi calf kicks make you think of the Kai fight — Kai is a striker who loads the lead leg, so calves made sense — but it worked on Ogikubo too; good lesson.
Or maybe with Horiguchi's speed, those calves just land on basically anyone.
Horiguchi pouring on ground-and-pound early to finish. That pound is vicious — reminded me of old Kid Yamamoto chasing a stopped opponent outside the ring and keeping pounding.
The demonic face even looked a bit the same.
On a ring the pound is harder to unload fully; in a cage I think he'd have finished by KO right there.
Horiguchi has the knee to manage, and the window isn't endless. So whether Bellator or UFC, I want him in a belt picture.
On the other hand flyweight isn't popping in those orgs (Bellator may not even have it now), and former RIZIN bantam champ Manel Kape is on a tear with four straight in UFC fly — so UFC feels possible? Not sure.
UFC fly already has Taira, and personally I also want to see young Taira take a UFC belt.
Bellator → UFC also feels unrealistic, and swinging fully back to RIZIN would be a waste of Horiguchi.
Either way: another overseas title fight for Horiguchi, soon.
[Fight 14 / Kleber Koike vs. Patricio Pitbull]
Result: Patricio Pitbull WIN R3 decision (0-3)
Including Satoshi in fight 15, it was RIZIN's top tier — a cut above the rest of Japan — facing Bellator.
Satoshi lost too, but while they were in RIZIN you never saw the floor — so this felt like watching "How to Beat Satoshi & Kleber."
Shut down the takedown defense, don't get submitted. Physically so strong that even when tangled they peel off easily — despair.
Kleber's striking has improved, and striking took about half the fight — I couldn't tell what the strategy was.
Just because Pitbull had no grappling openings? True, Kleber has been tagged hard by lesser guys before, so maybe he wanted to avoid eating one from Pitbull.
After the loss, Kleber feels more like staying domestic than chasing a new overseas path.
RIZIN featherweight is one of the deepest, most even divisions — rematches with Asakura or Ushiku, Suzuki, Kanehara, even Hiramoto all sound fun.
Looking forward to it.
[Fight 15 / Roberto Satoshi Souza vs. AJ McKee]
AJ McKee is insanely stylish and cool. A star.
The walkout raining McKee bills was excellent. My seat wasn't close enough to grab one — wanted one though.
Satoshi's recent fights have leveled up his striking; as an MMA fighter he looked complete — honestly watching RIZIN I wondered who could touch him — then AJ McKee was another level up.
Satoshi tried a few of his triangle setups, and McKee just punched through from on top — skill gap left me speechless.
Especially when McKee got taken on the back and front-rolled out of the scramble — I got hyped thinking "that pattern exists?"
Who's next for Souza? Domestically nobody interesting left; by elimination maybe Takeda? I'd rather see him challenge Bellator.
====================
That's the report.
This blog took about four hours across two days. Is anyone reading this far?
Aoki drops detailed writeups right after every card — unreal. Too fast with the pen.
After year-end I felt again that I want work somehow tied to combat sports someday.
This New Year's Eve, a ONE crossover would make me insanely happy — but ONE's contracts feel harsh, and Sakakibara may not have those connections, so odds look low.
Will there be cards this fun again? If RIZIN fighters keep leveling up, the shows only get better — so trust Sakakibara and stay in "wait" mode.
P.S. Writing this I remembered: RIZIN merch almost never makes me want to buy. Why?
Colors and designs are pretty mid. I go every year ready to buy and never have. Is it just me...
Full face prints and giant logos only work in your room or the gym.
Anyway — looking forward to this year too. Next up maybe a look-back at last year.
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