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With a crowd of more than 10,000 fans at Toyota Arena Tokyo, Rizin Fighting Federation put on Rizin 54 on Tuesday in Tokyo. The card was headlined by a featherweight title eliminator between top MMA prospect Kyoma Akimoto and former Rizin champion Kleber Koike Erbst.
After three hard-fought rounds, Akimoto (13-1, 8-1 Rizin) emerged victorious, while Erbst (35-10-1, 1 NC; 10-5, 1 NC Rizin) may have seen his path back to the title derailed.
Koike was active with kicks in the first round and landed dozens to Akimoto’s legs and midsection during the first two minutes alone. Akimoto stayed calm as Koike chased him with punches. A counter left hook rocked Koike and backed him into a corner, but he recovered quickly and took Akimoto’s back. Akimoto remained on his feet and wobbled Koike again with punches during the final 30 seconds.
Koike pressed forward with punches in the second round, but Akimoto began to time his strikes and snapped Koike’s head back with jabs and crosses. Koike bled from his nose and tried unsuccessfully to pull guard. Akimoto prevented Koike from taking him down from back control and backed Koike into a corner with jabs as more cuts opened on Koike’s face.
Akimoto jabbed Koike in the nose and easily avoided his takedown attempts in the final round. Koike dropped to his back and dared Akimoto to follow him to the ground, but the 20-year-old declined. Koike’s left eye swelled and blood began to cover his face as Akimoto’s jabs forced him to retreat. The bout went to the scorecards, and all three judges sided with Akimoto for a unanimous decision victory. He is expected to challenge for Rizin’s featherweight title by the end of the year.
Two-point penalty proves decisive as Shoko Sato beats Patrick Mix by unanimous decision
The only other bout on the card to go the distance was the co-main event between Shoko Sato (39-17-2, 1 NC; 5-2 Rizin) and Patrick “Patchy” Mix (20-5, 1-2 Rizin), who came in more than six pounds over the bantamweight limit. As a result, Mix was penalized with a two-point deduction, which proved to be the difference after 15 minutes of fighting.
The fighters exchanged inside leg kicks in the opening minute before “Patchy” took Sato down directly into back control. Mix secured a tight rear-naked choke, but Sato refused to submit and broke Mix’s grip. Sato hurt Mix with two leg kicks to begin the second round, and Mix immediately began to favor his right leg. Sato kept his distance and continued to throw kicks as Mix slowed. Mix was unable to take Sato down, and Sato repeatedly punished him with leg kicks.
Mix caught a kick and took Sato down early in the final round. He passed to side control and struck Sato’s face with hammerfists. Sato attempted a modified buggy choke from the bottom before the bout went to the scorecards. Because of Mix’s point deductions, all three judges scored the fight 28-27 for Sato, giving him a unanimous decision victory. Mix has lost four straight fights.
The second Heavyweight Grand Prix Japan semifinal between King Edokpolo (4-0, 3-0 Rizin) and Mikio Ueda (5-4, 4-4 Rizin) got off to a slow start before picking up quickly in the second round. Ueda attacked Edokpolo’s lead leg with kicks during the first two minutes and was unfazed by Edokpolo’s taunts. Edokpolo landed knees to Ueda’s head and body, while Ueda held him tightly against the ropes.
Early in the second round, Edokpolo backed Ueda against the ropes. He clinched with Ueda and landed a high knee to the jaw, sending Ueda crashing to the mat and ending the fight 47 seconds into Round 2. Edokpolo advanced to the tournament final.
In the first of two Heavyweight Grand Prix Japan semifinals, Tsuyoshi Kamiyama (10-4, 10-4 Rizin) stopped Ryo Sakai (15-16, 0-3 Rizin) late in the opening round. The most significant strikes during the first four minutes were leg kicks, as both men targeted the other’s lead leg.
Kamiyama stunned Sakai with a jab and a combination against the ropes before dropping him with a right hook to the temple. Before Sakai had time to recover, “Sudario” blasted him with a soccer kick and a final punch that prompted the referee to stop the fight at 4:26 of Round 1. Kamiyama advanced to the heavyweight tournament final, where he will face Edokpolo in November.
A scheduled flyweight bout between Yuki Ito (21-7, 11-3 Rizin) and Alibek Gadzhammatov (6-2, 2-2 Rizin), who missed weight, ended in a second-round TKO victory for Ito after Gadzhammatov tired.
Ito pressed forward with strikes in the opening round until Gadzhammatov staggered him with a straight right hand midway through the round. Gadzhammatov took Ito’s back in a corner and kneed his thigh until Ito circled free and landed a late flurry of punches.
Gadzhammatov took Ito down again in the second round and hunted for rear-naked chokes until Ito escaped to his feet and locked on a standing brabo choke. Gadzhammatov fought his way out, but Ito pinned him in a corner and unloaded with punches and three knees to the body. An exhausted Gadzhammatov wilted under the pressure, and Ito continued to punch until the bout was stopped at 3:50 of Round 2.
After being controlled in clinches for nearly five minutes, Koji Takeda (20-8, 9-8 Rizin) rallied to submit Kazumasa Majima (20-7, 5-6 Rizin) in their featherweight bout. Majima took Takeda’s back and held him in standing clinches against the ropes during the first half of the opening round. Takeda defended against a rear-naked choke but was unable to escape Majima’s grasp.
Late in the round, Takeda used a rolling kimura to take Majima down and trapped him in a triangle choke. When Majima did not submit, Takeda switched to a triangle armbar, forcing Majima to tap at 4:58 of Round 1.
Rebounding from an unsuccessful Rizin title bid in April, Joji Goto (20-9, 6-1 Rizin) stopped Uzbek prospect Azizbek Temirov (6-3, 1-1 Rizin) in bantamweight action. Goto badly rocked Temirov with punches and elbows against the ropes, leaving Temirov dazed and on the brink of collapse.
Goto followed with knees and more elbows before taking Temirov down and attempting his signature twister. Temirov fought off the submission attempt, but Goto immediately transitioned to a tight rear-naked choke and forced Temirov to submit at 3:41 of the opening round.
In a flyweight grudge match, Joe Hiramoto (4-2, 4-1 Rizin) knocked out previously undefeated Ryoma Shishimoto (4-1, 2-1 Rizin). Hiramoto mixed his strikes with leg kicks and lunging punches, while “Jolly” stuck to a boxing-focused approach.
When Shishimoto closed in to throw a combination, Hiramoto connected with a right hook that knocked Shishimoto unconscious. Shishimoto was taken from the ring on a stretcher. The knockout came at 1:36 of Round 1.
Former kickboxing champion Naoki Tanaka (4-2, 2-1) spoiled fellow striker Issa Hosokawa’s professional MMA debut in a 152-pound catchweight bout. Hosokawa (0-1, 0-1 Rizin) easily took Tanaka down twice in the opening round and accumulated control time from the top while punching from Tanaka’s guard. However, Tanaka inflicted the most visible damage during the first minute.
Tanaka landed a hard right cross and a head kick to Hosokawa’s left eye, which eventually swelled shut. Despite the injury, the doctor allowed the fight to continue into the second round. Hosokawa aggressively moved forward with punches, but Tanaka targeted his damaged eye with elbows.
Hosokawa’s eye continued to swell, and the bout was stopped again for a medical examination. This time, the doctor immediately waved off the fight, giving Tanaka a TKO victory at 3:09 of Round 2.
Opening the card, two-time Road to UFC competitor Kaiwen Li (17-8, 1-1 Rizin) knocked out Deep champion Arata Mizuno (9-2, 0-1 Rizin) in the first round of their featherweight bout.
Mizuno kept Li at bay with jabs during the first three minutes until Li dropped him with two elbows to the temple. Mizuno survived a barrage of punches and returned to his feet, but Li dropped him again with a counter right-left combination and finished him with hammerfists for the knockout victory at 4:27 of Round 1.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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