Rizin Fighting Federation lightweight champion Roberto
Satoshi de Souza scored the fastest victory in his 11-year MMA
career at Rizin
48 in Saitama, Japan. De Souza, who now has 14 first-round
finishes on his resume, knocked out title challenger Luiz
Gustavo in just 21 seconds to cap off an entertaining card. Shortly after the opening bell, de Souza (17-3, 10-2 Rizin) landed
a body kick and a right hook to the temple of Gustavo (14-3, 6-3
Rizin), who was trying to close the distance. The punch badly hurt
Gustavo, who fell to his knees and then briefly rose to his feet
before de Souza sent him crashing to the canvas with a lunging left
hand. Gustavo was momentarily knocked out by the punch, but he came
to just as de Souza landed two hammerfists on the ground and
referee Bryan Miner dove in to wave off the fight.

Though he is best known for his impeccable ground game, de Souza
has now vanquished back-to-back opponents with strikes in the first
round.

The co-main event also ended quickly as Naoki Inoue
(18-4, 8-2 Rizin) scored a first-round TKO triumph over South
Korean veteran Soo Chul
Kim (22-8-1, 3-2 Rizin) to claim the vacant Rizin bantamweight
title.

Inoue immediately established his jab, and he used it to frustrate
Kim, who came up short as he hunted for a knockout with looping
punches. That continued until Kim connected with a solid right
hook, which Inoue responded to with a hard left hand. He dropped
Kim with a quick one-two and briefly took his back. As a dazed Kim
leaned through the ropes, Inoue landed a series of unanswered
punches for a TKO stoppage at the 3:55 mark of Round 1.

The soft-spoken Inoue had few words following his title win, but
the talented 27-year-old has made great strides during the past two
years and that culminated with his championship crowning tonight.
Four of his Rizin wins have come inside the first round.

In a rematch from their first meeting at Rizin 33, Yuki Motoya
(36-11, 1 NC; 11-7, 1 NC Rizin) once again defeated Shinobu Ota
(7-4, 6-4 Rizin) in a bantamweight duel.

Motoya got off to a good start in the opening round with crisp jabs
and constant movement that prevented Ota from clinching. Ota
eventually got him down, but that was short-lived and Motoya landed
two hard left hands at the bell. Motoya continued to outstrike Ota
in the second round until Ota scored with a combination that opened
a cut above Motoya’s right eye. Motoya responded with a guillotine
choke late in the round.

Both fighters attempted guillotine chokes in the final round, and
Motoya trapped Ota in a body triangle after taking his back. Ota
defended against one rear-naked choke attempt, but Motoya was
persistent and he locked in the choke on his second try for a
tapout victory at the 4:09 mark of Round 3. Ota was visibly
dejected following the defeat, while Motoya has his sights set on
bantamweight title contention. He has history with new champion
Inoue, who submitted Motoya when they fought at Rizin FF 26 at the
end of 2020.

The Rizin 48 main card opened with what was intended to be a
featherweight matchup between the undefeated Rajabali
Shaidullaev (12-0, 2-0 Rizin) and former Rizin and Bellator
bantamweight titleholder Juan
Archuleta (29-7, 3-3 Rizin). However, Archuleta missed the
featherweight limit by more than six pounds and he began the fight
with a red card – a 50% reduction in points – as a result.

Archuleta’s penalty proved to be inconsequential, however, as he
did not make it out of the first round. Shaidullaev cut off the
ring well and he stunned Archuleta with an early right hand. After
taking Archuleta down, Shaidullaev transitioned to his back and
then into an armbar, which forced Archuleta to instantly submit at
the 3:12 mark of Round 1.

Shaidullaev’s dispatching of Archuleta placed him on a short list
of title contenders for the Rizin featherweight crown. All 12 of
the 23-year-old’s wins have come via stoppage.

In the featured preliminary card fight, Rizin and two-division Deep
champion Seika Izawa
(14-0, 8-0 Rizin) won her non-title super atomweight bout against
the retiring Kanna
Asakura (20-8, 11-7 Rizin) after three entertaining rounds.
Izawa largely dominated the fight on the mat during the opening ten
minutes, with a prolonged guillotine choke in the first frame and a
reverse guillotine and a face crank in the second stanza. Izawa
threatened with more submissions in the final round, but Asakura
never gave up and she rallied with stomps shortly before the bell.
Izawa rightfully took the unanimous decision victory, but former
Rizin grand prix champion Asakura was given a nice retirement
ceremony as she thanked supporters and now moves on to a new
chapter in her life.

Rounding out the action, Shoko Sato
(36-16-2, 1 NC; 2-1 Rizin) took an uneventful unanimous decision
win over former Rizin champion Juntaro
Ushiku (21-10, 3-4 Rizin) at featherweight; Yusuke
Yachi (27-14, 11-7 Rizin) won his lightweight clash with
Sho
Patrick Usami (7-3, 3-2 Rizin) via unanimous decision;
featherweight Ryo Takagi
(8-2, 2-1 Rizin) submitted Kyohei
Hagiwara (7-10, 6-8 Rizin) with a rear-naked choke at the 2:39
mark of Round 1; top bantamweight prospect Kyoma
Akimoto (6-0, 1-0 Rizin) overwhelmed Yuto
Hokamura (15-14-2, 3-6 Rizin) with punches and knees for a TKO
stoppage at the 3:16 mark of the opening round; two-division EFC
champion Nkazimulo
Zulu (16-6-1, 1-0 Rizin) stopped Shooto double-champ Jo Arai
(13-12-1, 0-2 Rizin) with a spinning wheel kick and punches 4:12
into the first round of their flyweight bout; and featherweight
Karshyga
Dautbek (16-3, 2-1 Rizin) knocked out Takeaki
Kinoshita (9-8-1, 0-2 Rizin) with a massive overhand left at
the 1:48 mark of the opening frame.

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

Internationaler Kampfkunst und Kampfsport Kleinanzeiger