Suzuki Upkick KOs Karamov to Claim Featherweight Title at Rizin ‘Landmark Vol. 7’

By Martial Arts Videos November 4, 2023
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After coming up short in his first title bid in June, Chihiro
Suzuki made the most of his second opportunity by scoring a
crushing first-round knockout victory on Saturday at Rizin
Fighting Federation “Landmark Vol. 7” in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Suzuki finished Vugar
Karamov with a vicious upkick and punches 88 seconds into the
opening round to claim the Rizin featherweight title.

Suzuki (12-3, 1 NC, 7-1, 1 NC Rizin) found himself on the mat
following an early takedown from Karamov (19-5, 5-2 Rizin), who
postured up and punched from the top. When Karamov stood up to try
to pass Suzuki’s guard, Suzuki countered with an upkick from the
bottom. His heel connected flush with Karamov’s jaw and the dazed
Azerbaijani fighter fell back into Suzuki’s guard.

Suzuki unleashed a barrage of punches from the bottom that bounced
Karamov’s head back and forth before referee Masato
Fukuda identified that Karamov was unconscious and waved off
the fight. An elated Suzuki celebrated his championship victory.
The 24-year-old has now won seven of his past eight Rizin
bouts.

In the lightweight co-main event, Tofiq
Musayev (22-5, 7-1 Rizin) finished Koji Takeda
(15-6, 5-6 Rizin) with a right hook and hammerfists at 2:03 of
Round 3.

Musayev got off to a good start in the opening round by cracking
Takeda with a right hook and attacking his body with kicks. He took
Takeda down in the second stanza and spent more than three minutes
working from the top.

In the final round, Musayev backed Takeda up against the cage with
punches and dropped him with a right hook. Takeda was initially OK
on the ground, but Musayev sensed a finish and he blasted Takeda
with hammerfists until the Japanese fighter was out cold.

Road to UFC veteran Kyung Pyo
Kim (13-4, 2-0 Rizin) needed only 21 seconds to dispatch of
Tural
Ragimov (21-10, 0-1 Rizin) in their brief lightweight clash.
Kim floored Ragimov with his first right hook of the fight and
followed with punches on the ground until the bout was justifiably
stopped, despite Ragimov’s protests. Kim has won back-to-back
fights for Rizin since his two-fight Road to UFC campaign in
2022.

Rounding out the main card, Ali
Abdulkhalikov (13-2, 2-1 Rizin) took a close but well-earned
unanimous decision victory over Nariman
Abbasov (28-5, 0-1 Rizin) at lightweight; and Mehman
Mamedov (7-6, 1 NC, 2-1 Rizin) mauled short-notice replacement
foe Ferit
Goktepe (4-2, 0-1 Rizin) on the ground for three rounds en
route to a lopsided unanimous decision win in a 132-pound
catchweight contest.

The highlight of the preliminary card was a 113-pound women’s
catchweight bout between three-time Rizin veteran Anastasiya
Svetkivska (3-2, 1-2 Rizin) and 19-year-old Farida
Abdueva (2-1, 0-1 Rizin). Svetkivska chained together
submissions and ultimately forced Abdueva to submit to a triangle
armbar at 4:20 of Round 2.

Completing the preliminary card, Ilhom
Nazimov (10-3, 1-0 Rizin) took a unanimous decision victory
over Jaures Dea
Gomez (10-6, 1 NC, 0-1 Rizin) at featherweight; Vladyslav
Rudniev (8-0, 1-0 Rizin) stayed unbeaten with a unanimous
decision triumph against Ilyar
Askhanov (12-6, 0-1 Rizin) in a bloody battle at lightweight;
Shota
Betlemidze (18-2-1, 1-0 Rizin) won his heavyweight bout with
Quentin
Domingos (10-4, 1 NC, 0-1 Rizin) via TKO (retirement) at the
end of the first round; and light heavyweight Hasan
Mezhiev (14-0, 1-0 Rizin) tapped out Konstantin
Merkulov (2-3, 0-1 Rizin) with a rear-naked choke at 2:32 of
Round 1.

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