Rizin Fighting Federation Results – Day 1 – Aoki Destroys Sakuraba
The first of two Rizin Fighting Federation events took place earlier today Tuesday, December 29th.
First, from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, the newly created Rizin Fighting Federation presented it’s opening event, headlined by Shinya Aoki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba.
Sakuraba, a legend in mixed martial arts, who had seen a skid in recent years, was never in the fight. Aoki (39-6, 1 NC) secured an early takedown, moved swiftly into mount, then began raining down a relentless procession of punches upon the catch wrestler. Sakuraba (26-17-1, 2 NC) looked to survive as long as he could, giving up his back and continually attempting to buck Aoki off, but it was too much. Aoki never let up with his strikes, and the contest was ultimately called off late into its 10-minute opening round.
The winner of the eight-man heavyweight tournament wins $300,000. Bellator MMA fighter ‘King Mo’ Muhammed Lawal defeated Brett McDermott via strikes to advance in the tournament. Also advancing, Jiri Prozchazka, Vadim Nemkov, and Teodoras Aukstoulis. Valentin Moldavsky scored an alternate position.
The second event will take place on Thursday, and will feature the tournament semis and finals; Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jaideep Singh will headline.
Spike has exclusive US rights to the event. The Rizin Fighting World Grand Prix 2015
will air on Spike, Dec 31 at 10:00 AM.
Official Rizin Fighting Federation Day 1 results below:
-Shinya Aoki defeated Kazushi Sakuraba via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 5:56
-Jiri Prochazka defeated Satoshi Ishii via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 1:36 – heavyweight tournament opening round
-Vadim Nemkov defeated Goran Reljic via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 2:58 – heavyweight tournament opening round
-Teodoras Aukstuolis defeated Bruno Cappelozza via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:32 – heavyweight tournament opening round
-Muhammed Lawal defeated Brett McDermott via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 9:10 – heavyweight tournament opening round
-Valentin Moldavsky defeated Yuta Uchida via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:20 – heavyweight tournament alternate fight
-Hiroyuki Takaya defeated Daiki Hata via unanimous decision
-Hideo Tokoro defeated Kizaemon Saiga via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 5:15
-Anatoly Tokov defeatedA.J. Matthews via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:55
-Felipe Efrain defeated Yuki Motoya via TKO (punches) – Round 1 (fight to be ruled no-contest due to Efrain missing weight)
-Kirill Sidelnikov defeated Carlos Toyota via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:32
-Tsuyoshi Kohsaka defeated James Thompson via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:58
