RIZIN FF News

Harry Kettle - October 25, 2022

Bellator MMA have announced another crossover event with Rizin, which is set to take place on New Year’s Eve. Over the course of the last few years, Bellator has made an effort to branch out and work with a series of different promotions. While it’s unlikely they’ll be able to strike any kind of cross-promotional deal with the UFC, there are certainly other companies that are more than willing to partake.

Cole Shelton - September 21, 2022

Floyd Mayweather will be getting paid when he faces MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura in a boxing exhibition match at RIZIN 38 at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan on September 25. The fight will only be nine minutes, and even though it is short and an exhibition, Mayweather still got a hefty purse for it. He has said he wants to work smarter and not harder for his money and he’s doing just that as he revealed he is making a few million every minute.

Josh Evanoff - June 16, 2022

Undefeated professional boxer Floyd Mayweather isn’t stressing ahead of his return against Mikuru Asakura. ‘Money’ retired from the sport of boxing following a 2017 knockout of Conor McGregor. Sitting at 50-0 in his professional career, Mayweather has cemented his place as one of the greatest to ever put on the gloves. However, while he’s retired from pro contests, he’s not retired from exhibitions.

Cole Shelton - June 14, 2022

Floyd Mayweather will be returning to Japan to fight for RIZIN FF. Mayweather who fought kickboxing phenom Tenshin Nasukawa and knocked him out under the RIZIN FF banner in December of 2019, has struck another deal with the promotion. RIZIN FF announced that Mayweather will take on MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura in an exhibition boxing match in September.

Drake Riggs - November 24, 2021

Kyoji Horiguchi is a man on a mission. The current RIZIN FF 135-pound bantamweight king recaptured the title he never officially lost on New Year’s Eve 2020 and hasn’t fought since. Now, Horiguchi has signed with Bellator in a rare deal that sees him remain the RIZIN champ and seeks the other title he relinquished when sidelined in all of 2020 recovering from an ACL tear.

Drake Riggs - October 20, 2021

RIZIN bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi is set to attempt to reclaim the title he never lost. Bellator announced on Wednesday that their newest Bellator 135-pound champion in Sergio Pettis has his next challenger. Pettis will defend against the RIZIN titlist in Horiguchi on Dec. 3 at Bellator 272 in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Drake Riggs - September 9, 2021

Kyoji Horiguchi is taking new steps forward in his storied career. It was revealed Thursday to BJPenn.com that the current RIZIN bantamweight champion has joined the Bellator roster. RIZIN, Bellator President Scott Coker, and Horiguchi himself announced the news via social media.

Drake Riggs - June 14, 2021

UFC President Dana White and RIZIN FF Founder Nobuyuki Sakakibara go way back. During the rise of the UFC in the early 2000s, PRIDE FC was doing its thing over in Japan. 15 years later and two most prolific MMA bosses reunited recently.

Drake Riggs - March 23, 2021

Tsuyoshi Sudario made some history during RIZIN’s first event of 2021. Unfortunately, the aftermath of the bout could overshadow his win. Entering into his matchup with 42-year old professional wrestler Kazushi Miyamoto, the former Sumo wrestling sensation, Tsuyoshi Sudario, was 2-0 in MMA. Coming in off of a big win over the iconic Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa at RIZIN 26 on New Year’s Eve 2020, Sudario was back to facing a pro wrestler making their MMA debut just like he did when he debuted at RIZIN 24 vs. Dylan James.

Adam D Martin - March 22, 2021

Heavyweight sumo wrestler Tsuyoshi Sudario earned the fastest knockout in RIZIN history during past weekend’s RIZIN 27 event. Sudario is a 23-year-old native of Japan who comes from a sumo wrestling background who trains MMA under the legendary Enson Inoue. In September 2020, he made his pro debut in mixed martial arts and finished Dylan James via first-round TKO (doctor stoppage) at RIZIN 24. He then returned to the cage at RIZIN 26 in December 2020 and finished Minowaman with strikes in the first round. Considering his young age, his grappling credentials, and his apparent knockout power on the feet, Sudario looks like a really good prospect. And if you thought he was already looking good, imagine what you might think now after the youngster just pulled off scoring the fastest in company history at RIZN 27.

Andrew Whitelaw - March 16, 2021

Rizin favourite, Jake Heun has reportedly got himself into some serious trouble Down Under. According to a report from Jack Wannan in Knockdown News, the 33 year old Heun is facing a slew of drug charges in Melbourne, Australia.

Drake Riggs - March 16, 2021

Prodigy kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa is already one of the best ever in his sport despite his age. Apparently, there was a point where the world’s premier MMA promotion wanted to get their hands on the Chiba Prefecture native. 41-0 at just age 22, Nasukawa first stepped foot inside the RIZIN FF ring at RIZIN 9 in 2017. He’s fought under the banner 13 times overall and looked virtually flawless in all outings – excluding an exhibition boxing match vs. Floyd Mayweather.

Tom Taylor - February 9, 2021

RIZIN CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara has responded to some recent comments from Spike Carlyle, and laid out plans for a Featherweight Grand Prix. Carlyle was recently released by the UFC after going 1-2 in the promotion’s featherweight division. After his release, he expressed interest in migrating to RIZIN because he’s always wanted to fight in Japan, where the promotion is based.

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.

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.

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.

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.