A ton of squash matches but some bangers .
Hardest part is staying awake to be honest, last year that knee landed on Archuleta’s temple around 9 am the next day lol
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whats the 15.00 mean ? how much you charge to suck dick ?
Kyoji Horiguchi was the first man to win titles in two major MMA promotions simultaneously, holding the bantamweight belt in Bellator and RIZIN, but a lot has changed since.
A former flyweight contender in the UFC, Horiguchi now holds the 125-pound title in RIZIN and plans on showing dominance in Asia to become the world’s best flyweight before he considers moving weight classes again.
Unbeaten in nearly 10 years as a flyweight, he returns to the ring on Dec. 31 to face former EFC two-division champion Nkazimulo Zulu at RIZIN Decade in Saitama, Japan.
“I believe that flyweight is my weight class, and I want to focus on that,” Horiguchi told MMA Fighting through a translator. “My goal is to become the best in the world at flyweight. I’ve kind of shifted towards flyweight and focusing on there instead of going back and forth between two divisions.
“And as for bantamweight, once I achieve my goal at flyweight, then I can probably think of moving up. But right now, I’m just focused on becoming the best at flyweight.”
Zulu claimed the EFC bantamweight title in 2023 and returned to flyweight to defend his title this past March before leaving the African promotion to join RIZIN. In his debut fight in Japan, Zulu stopped Jo Arai in the opening round.
“In this industry, if you’re tough and if you have the skills, I think anybody deserves the title shot,” Horiguchi said. “And for me, as long as it’s under the flyweight division, I’m always ready to take on anybody.”
“As far as my opponent himself, he’s very athletic, and he’s very explosive, and I think he’s a good fighter,” he added. “My plan is to face him wherever the fight takes me, either on the striking or on the ground. I’m going to fight in MMA, and that’s a plan.”
Horiguchi revealed that Zulu was not his original opponent, though, but was given the opportunity after Alibek Gadzhammatov was no longer available.
“I think RIZIN is in the process of gathering decent flyweight fighters from across the globe, and I think they’re working on it,” Horiguchi said. “Before this fight with Zulu was confirmed, they offered me Gadzhammatov, who just fought in November. I think he’s a really good fighter. He was a tough fighter, and I said OK to him. My plan was to fight him, but apparently, something happened, maybe an injury or whatnot, and he wasn’t able to fight. But I already accepted the fight against him. He’s a good prospect, a good fighter.”
The Japanese star sees “other fighters that look pretty decent” in the RIZIN roster at flyweight but still lack “exposure” to justify a championship clash. Also, with former Brave CF champion Jose Torres allowed to compete at RIZIN Decade against Makoto Shinryu, a door could be open for a future clash with Brave’s Muhammad Mokaev, who just returned to the Bahrain-based company after a 7-0 run in the UFC.
“That sounds nice,” Horiguchi said. “There’s a lot that I can’t really talk, but yeah, if it happens, it happens.”
I’m so hyped about this event , last year’s was a battle to stay awake lol Archu got knees to Bolivia around 9 am only the next day
Smart dude.
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i think hongkongphooey is smarter than suga sean
Lol @ 27-14 fighter vs debuting fighter. Jesus Christ
Yup
What Time Does Rizin 49: Decade Start?
Depending on where you are the show will have a different start time. While in Japan and other areas, it will be NYE, in North America the show will be airing on Dec. 30 8 p.m. PT/11 p.m. ET. You can check out this tweet for a list of times.
Ok, buds. There were several who had mentioned they’d wanted details about this card, and, as it is generally the only card of RIZIN’s that has a legit turnout, every year, I promised to make this thread with as many details as I know.
This is RIZIN’s 10 year anniversary show, and the lineup is lit. It’s what you’d expect from both a 10 year anniversary show and NYE card.
The MMA portion is as follows:
On the preliminary portion we have Baby Sakuraba (yes, Kazushi’s son) making his MMA debut against JMMA stalwart Yusuke Yachi, who has over 40 fights under his belt.
We have former Bellator and RIZIN flyweight title challenger Makoto Shinryu taking on former BraveCF bantamweight champion and UFC veteran Jose Torres.
We’ve got RISE kickboxing 143lb champ Ya-Man (WAR YA-MAN!) taking on the number one FW in Japan and SE Asia, and number three P4P in SE Asia, Karshyga Dautbek, who is an absolute killer, with an 88% (T)KO rate.
The main event for the prelims is what will maybe be the fight of the card, as former K1 and Krush kickboxing welterweight champion, Yuta Kubo, will be taking on undefeated Kyrgastani submission ace Razhabali Shaydullaev, who, at 24, will probably be contending stateside in the next couple of years.
The main card features three title fights.
Lightweight champion and BJJ hero Satoshi Souza will take on former RIZIN featherweight champion and prolific fight finisher Vugar Karamov.
The flyweight title fight is between everyone’s current favorite Japanese star, and former UFC title challenger, Kyoji Horiguchi, and former EFC bantamweight champion Nkazimulo Zulu.
The main event is a featherweight title fight against champion Chihiro Suzuki, the kid who flatlined Patricio Pitbull last year, taking on former RIZIN and KSW featherweight champion Kleber Koike Erbst, in a grudge match.
Wait, there’s more!
The RIZIN Outlaw portion of the card was supposed to have featured the boxing match between former K1 super lightweight champion and K1 WWGP runner up, Rukiya Anpo, and former WBC interim lightweight boxing champion, Ryan Garcia, but Garcia dropped out of the fight, as expected. The consolation fight is what NYE in Japan is all about, as Anpo (5’11") will now be facing former K1 cruiserweight champion Sina Karimian (6’7")…at 220lbs!!! (WAR ANPO!!!)
The card starts tomorrow night, 12/30, at 11pm Eastern, 8pm Pacific, in North America. The card can be purchased as a stand alone event purchase at RIZIN.tv for the amazing price of $20, USD, which is well worth it for an event featuring more than 20 fights. Or you can just spend the same amount, $20, and subscribe to RIZIN Pass for a month, and have access to their entire event history, whichever you prefer.
I remember being a warrior during the HDNet NYE broadcasts but it’s sure been a while since I’ve made Tequila Sunrises all night until daybreak watching people get kicked in the face.
Can’t do it anymore.
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