✌️ KLEBER IS THE TWO-TIME RIZIN
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FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPION
#RIZIN_DECADE | LIVE on https://t.co/LChPUvqSqh ] pic.twitter.com/hA19WeHXjQ— RIZIN.tv (@RIZINTV_)
December 31, 2024
After losing his title on the scale in June 2023, Kleber
Koike Erbst regained the
Rizin Fighting Federation featherweight championship on Tuesday
in the main event of
Rizin 49 “Decade” in Saitama, Japan. Koike earned a unanimous
decision victory over champion Chihiro
Suzuki to reclaim the belt that he was stripped of prior to his
first fight against Suzuki at Rizin 43.
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Koike (34-7-1, 1 NC, 9-2, 1 NC Rizin), whose previous win over
Suzuki (13-4, 1 NC, 8-2, 1 NC Rizin) was invalidated as a no
contest when he failed to make weight, passed all tests, and he
left no doubt in the judges’ minds after 15 minutes of combat.
Suzuki had a lot of early success with calf kicks that seemed as if
they might hinder Koike’s movement, but Koike pulled guard and
effortlessly swept into mount as he established his ground game
dominance. Suzuki fought his way back to half guard and then kicked
at Koike’s face with heel strikes as Koike attempted a late-round
Achilles lock.
In the second round, Koike took Suzuki down and landed punches to
set up a mounted triangle choke that had Suzuki in some trouble.
Suzuki escaped, and he also got out of a mounted guillotine choke,
but he was playing defense as the challenger took over the fight on
the mat. That continued in the final round after Koike again pulled
guard, but Suzuki was able to land some damaging elbows from the
top that opened a bad gash on Koike’s forehead. Despite that cut,
Koike threw up his legs for a triangle choke and then an armbar,
and he battered Suzuki with punches and elbows after mounting him
late in the fight. The judges all sided with Koike for a unanimous
decision win in what was believed to be his final shot at Rizin
title gold. He made the most of the opportunity.
And STILL 👊
The Champ takes home a unanimous decision.
[
#RIZIN_DECADE | LIVE on https://t.co/LChPUvqSqh ] pic.twitter.com/bsdG58mMrG— RIZIN.tv (@RIZINTV_)
December 31, 2024
Flyweight king Kyoji
Horiguchi (34-5, 1 NC, 15-1 Rizin) held on to his title with a
hard-fought unanimous decision victory over challenger Nkazimulo
Zulu (16-7-1, 1-1 Rizin) in the evening’s co-main event.
Horiguchi slammed Zulu down in the opening round and kneed him in
the head until Zulu returned to his feet. Horiguchi continued to
pursue a finish by holding Zulu in a front choke, but again Zulu
escaped and both fighters rocked the other with punches during an
exchange on the feet. Horiguchi held Zulu down in half-guard for
four minutes in the second round until the fight was brought back
to the feet, where Zulu stunned Horiguchi and the champion
responded with a takedown. Strong left hooks were exchanged in the
final round until Horiguchi took Zulu down again, and he kept him
on the mat while punching him in the face until the end of the
spirited fight. All three judges scored the bout for Horiguchi, who
is unbeaten in his past six fights.
SOUZA GETS THE TAP IN 1️⃣ !
👑 AND STILL!
[
#RIZIN_DECADE | LIVE on https://t.co/LChPUvqSqh ] pic.twitter.com/wdjooylWuC— RIZIN.tv (@RIZINTV_)
December 31, 2024
Roberto
Satoshi de Souza (18-3, 11-2 Rizin) easily retained his
lightweight championship in the first of the card’s three title
fightst. De Souza submitted former featherweight champ Vugar
Karamov (20-6, 6-3 Rizin), who moved up in weight for the
chance to earn his second Rizin belt. De Souza scored two takedowns
in the first half of the opening round, but Karamov powered out
from the bottom both times and returned to his feet. He then took
de Souza down, but that proved to be a mistake when de Souza
countered with a triangle choke from the bottom that forced Karamov
to submit at the 4:45 mark of the opening round. De Souza’s win
capped off a stellar 2024 campaign that saw him earn first-round
finishes in all three of his Rizin fights.
Rizin women’s super atomweight champion Seika Izawa
(15-0, 9-0 Rizin) remained unbeaten and scored a quick submission
win over massive betting underdog Lucia
Apdelgarim (2-4, 0-1 Rizin), who stepped into the fight on
short notice in place of an injured Rena
Kubota. Izawa’s Rizin title was not on the line in the bout,
but she was as aggressive as always with her submission attempts
and chained them together until she was able to put Apdelgarim
away. Following an early takedown, the heavily-favored Izawa
secured a tight triangle choke. Apdelgarim bravely fought on and
refused to submit, so Izawa switched to an armbar and then back to
the triangle choke. A final transition to a triangle armbar was too
much for Apdelgarim, who tapped out to the combination hold at the
2:21 mark of Round 1. Izawa, who was critical of Kubota for
withdrawing from the fight and accused her countrywoman of ducking
her, stated after her win that she wants to compete against top
international talent in 2025.
The main card opened with a dominant win for Yuki Motoya
(37-11, 1 NC; 12-7, 1 NC Rizin), who handed highly-touted
18-year-old prospect Kyoma
Akimoto (7-1, 2-1 Rizin) his first defeat via unanimous
decision. Akimoto had brief success with punching combinations
early in the fight before Motoya took him down, and that became a
familiar theme for the rest of the bout. Motoya kept Akimoto in
place with body triangles as he tried to finish his young foe with
rear-naked chokes. Akimoto’s defense was solid, but he was unable
to mount much offense of his own aside from three knees early in
the final round. Motoya got him down again and he held Akimoto in a
body triangle as time ticked down. All three judges sided with the
veteran Motoya, who earned himself a rematch against Rizin
bantamweight champion Naoki Inoue
with the victory.
In the featured featherweight bout before intermission, Rajabali
Shaidullaev (13-0, 3-0 Rizin) kept his unblemished record
intact with a dominant TKO win over Yuta Kubo
(5-2, 5-2 Rizin) at the 2:30 mark of the second stanza; Karshyga
Dautbek (17-3, 3-1 Rizin) used his superior grappling to seal a
unanimous decision win over striker Ren
Sugiyama (2-2, 2-2 Rizin) in another featherweight matchup;
rising contender Ryuya
Fukuda (24-8-1, 3-0 Rizin) won his bantamweight fight against
Ryusei
Ashizawa (2-2, 2-2 Rizin) by knocking him out with punches in
just 54 seconds; Mikio Ueda
(4-2, 3-2 Rizin) weathered early strikes from fellow heavyweight
Tae In
Kim (5-1, 0-1 Rizin) and ultimately knocked the Road FC
champion out with a blistering knee at the 2:31 mark of Round 2;
and Jose Torres
(13-3-1, 1-0 Rizin) took advantage of late-fight tactical mistakes
from Makoto
Takahashi (18-4-1, 1 NC; 4-3 Rizin) to win a close but deserved
split decision at 130 pounds.
Taisei
Sakuraba (1-0, 1-0 Rizin) won his MMA debut by stopping veteran
Yusuke
Yachi (27-15, 11-8 Rizin) with punches just 26 seconds into
their lightweight duel; Koji Takeda
(17-7, 7-7 Rizin) survived early submission scares against Suguru Nii
(17-11, 2-4 Rizin) and rallied to win a unanimous technical
decision at the 4:09 mark of Round 3 in a lightweight bout that
ended prematurely when Takeda was kneed in the groin; King
Edokpolo (2-0, 1-0 Rizin) made a successful Rizin debut by
knocking out heavyweight Satoshi
Kamiyama (1-4, 1-4 Rizin) with a knee and punches at the 3:22
mark of Round 1; in a bantamweight bout between kickboxers making
their MMA debuts, Genji Umeno
(1-0, 1-0 Rizin) prevailed via unanimous decision against Taiga
Kawabe (0-1, 0-1 Rizin); and Sanou
Yokouchi opened the Rizin 49 card by submitting Kenshin
Saito via rear-naked choke at the 3:02 mark of Round 1 in the
final of the Rizin Koshien MMA amateur bantamweight tournament.
During the Rizin Bangaichi portion of the event, Team Mikuru
Asakura narrowly defeated Team Ren
Hiramoto by a score of four to three in a best-of-seven series
of fights. The competition concluded with Rukiya Anpo
winning a lopsided unanimous decision over Sina Karimian in a
six-round heavyweight boxing match. Karimian landed very few
punches throughout the fight, aside from two to the face of referee
Tatsuro Nagase in the sixth round. Nagase allowed the fight to
continue as it devolved into a brawl in the final minute and Anpo
ultimately won easily on the scorecards.
In other fights during the Bangaichi competition, Sho
Patrick Usami stopped Issa Hosokawa with punches to the body at
the 2:59 mark of Round 2 in a welterweight kickboxing match using
open-finger MMA gloves; Tatsuki Shinotsuka won his 128-pound
open-finger gloves kickboxing match against Aoi Noda via TKO at the
2:07 mark of Round 1 after scoring three quick knockdowns; Daichi
Tomizawa (1-0, 1-0 Rizin) won his MMA debut in vicious fashion
by brutally knocking out Kota Miura
(2-3, 2-3 Rizin) with a knee at the 1:53 mark of Round 1 at a
catchweight of 139 pounds; Taio Asahisa won a unanimous decision
against the previously undefeated Yura Kono in a featherweight
kickboxing bout; Hyuma Yasui
(3-0, 1-0 Rizin) outworked Hiroaki
Suzuki (4-6, 4-6 Rizin) to take a unanimous decision win in
featherweight MMA action; and Hiroto
Gomyo (7-4, 1-0 Rizin) survived a third-round knockdown to win
his featherweight MMA fight against Koki Akada
(0-1, 0-1 Rizin) via split decision.