Outside Source
Lightweight champ Roberto Satoshi de Souza (20-3, 13-2 Rizin) needed just 100 seconds to force challenger Yoshinori Horie (14-6, 5-3 Rizin) to tap out to a standing rear-naked choke in their main event showdown. Early in the opening minute, de Souza shot in for a takedown andhopped on Horie’s back as the fighters returned to their feet. While maintaining a standing body triangle on Horie’s back, de Souza pinned his opponent against a corner post as he worked to sink in a rear-naked choke. To his credit, Horie initially defended well, but de Souza got his arm under Horie’s chin and forced the Japanese challenger to tap out at the 1:40 mark of the opening frame.
Including Sunday’s win, de Souza has earned five straight first-round finishes. The jiu-jitsu ace is running low on potential Rizin title challengers, but a matchup against a currently injured Shunta Nomura, whom de Souza was initially slated to face, will likely be rebooked before the end of this year. De Souza’s recent success has earned high praise from Rizin commentator Damien Brown, who stated during the broadcast that he feels that de Souza belongs among the top five in the stacked lightweight division.
While de Souza’s main event title defense was impressive, featherweight champion Rajabali Shaidullaev needed a mere 33 seconds to hold on to his title in the co-feature. Shaidullaev (15-0, 5-0 Rizin) dropped challenger Viktor Kolesnik (27-5-1, 4-1 Rizin) with a right hook and finished him with a series of left hands on the ground that left a bewildered Kolesnik confused and bloodied. Shaidullaev never gave Kolesnik a second to recover after being dropped by the right hand, and he trapped Kolesnik’s arm behind his back while landing punches to his face for the TKO stoppage.
At just 24 years of age, Shaidullaev is one of the brightest young stars in the sport today. Only one of his five Rizin bouts has made it outside of the first round, and the Kyrgyz champ may have already run out of top contenders unless a showdown with Japanese superstar Mikuru Asakura sounds favorable to Rizin matchmakers.
Flyweight Grand Grand Prix Final Set
Two common themes throughout the event were underdogs scoring upsets and bouts going the distance, with a total of 14 decisions on the card. Former bantamweight tournament winner Hiromasa Ougikubo (29-8-2, 11-5 Rizin) advanced on to the final round of this year’s flyweight grand prix by defeating Russian finisher Alibek Gadzhammatov (6-1, 2-1 Rizin) in their semifinal matchup.
Ougikubo stifled all of Gadzhammatov’s offense in the first two rounds by tying him up in clinches and taking him down, which allowed Ougikubo to rack up control time and damage by landing punches from Gadzhammatov’s half-guard. He mounted Gadhammatov in the final seconds of Round 2, and then again late in Round 3, but Gadzhammatov fought his way out of an arm-triangle choke and made it to the final bell. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Ougikubo for a unanimous decision win that moves the 38-year-old on to the tournament final.
In the second flyweight grand prix semifinal, Yuki Motoya (39-12, 1 NC; 14-8, 1 NC Rizin) came on strong as his fight progressed to earn a unanimous decision win over Makoto Takahashi (20-5-1, 1 NC; 6-4 Rizin).
The first round was a good one for Takahashi, who initiated clinches and got the better of Motoya in the grappling, but Motoya still had his moments when he was able to create space. During the final ten minutes, the veteran Motoya chained together submissions to keep his younger foe on the defensive. In Round 2, it was a guillotine choke and a rear-naked choke from Motoya, and he continued with an inverted triangle choke and another guillotine in the final stanza. ‘Shinryu’ would not tap out, but Motoya’s excellent performance during the second half of the fight earned him the victory and a spot in the flyweight grand prix final alongside Ougikubo.
The main card opened with a flyweight grand prix reserve bout, as Erson Yamamoto (6-8, 5-8 Rizin) faced Yuki Ito (19-7, 9-3 Rizin). Just as he did more than two years ago at Rizin 42, the underdog Yamamoto dominated Ito on the mat again and walked away with a lopsided unanimous decision victory.
Ito never had any answers for Yamamoto’s superior wrestling. Yamamoto put him on the mat repeatedly and landed punches and knees. Late-fight guillotine and triangle choke submission attempts from Ito were unsuccessful, and Yamamoto cruised to an easy victory. Yamamoto will replace Ougikubo or Motoya if either is injured.
The disappointing Rizin heavyweight grand prix came to an end following a series of uninspiring performances from competitors throughout the tournament. Alexander Soldatkin (17-4, 1 NC; 3-0 Rizin) was crowned as the grand prix winner, as he posted a unanimous decision victory over Marek Samociuk (9-5, 2-1 Rizin).
Soldatkin and Samociuk engaged in an entertaining, back-and-forth opening round that saw Soldatkin cause significant swelling and damage to Samociuk’s face with dozens of jabs, while Samociuk scored with chopping leg kicks. Unfortunately, the pace and action slowed as the fight progressed. A right hand from Soldatkin opened a cut above Samociuk’s left eye in the final round, which then had several timeouts due to fouls. After 15 minutes, Soldatkin was declared the winner. He will face Ryan Bader on New Year’s Eve.
Danny Sabatello (16-4-1, 2-0 Rizin) survived getting badly rocked by a soccer kick from Shoko Sato (37-17-2, 1 NC; 3-2 Rizin) in the opening round of their bantamweight fight. Sabatello then maintained a takedown-heavy game plan during the final two rounds to eke out a split-decision victory despite doing very little damage himself.
In what was arguably the fight of the night, bantamweight strikers Genji Umeno (2-0, 2-0 Rizin) and Ryusei Ashizawa (2-3, 2-3 Rizin) battled hard for three rounds before Umeno prevailed via unanimous decision. Despite his striking pedigree, it was Umeno’s submissions that racked up points for him with the judges. He trapped Ashizawa in tight chokes on multiple occasions, but Ashizawa broke free each time. On the feet, both men landed heavy punches, but Ashizawa’s were the most effective and Umeno had massive swelling on his face as the decision was read and he was declared the winner.
Rounding out the rest of the middle portion of Rizin 51, Ryo Takagi (9-3, 3-2 Rizin) used his superior striking to take a unanimous decision victory over Kisa Miyake (12-5, 0-1 Rizin) at featherweight; Yusuke Yachi (28-15, 12-8 Rizin) halted the six-fight winning streak of Bilal Kai Haga (6-5, 0-1 Rizin) via rear-naked choke at the 2:09 mark of Round 2 in their lightweight encounter; Hiroaki Suzuki (6-6, 6-6 Rizin) spoiled the Rizin debut of featherweight prospect Yuele Huang (10-2, 0-1 Rizin) via split decision; Daichi Tomizawa (2-1, 2-1 Rizin) edged out Joe Hiramoto (2-2, 2-1 Rizin) via split decision in flyweight action; Thiatou Bambilor (3-0, 1-0 Rizin) easily outpointed former lightweight Kousuke Kindaichi (11-3-2, 0-1 Rizin) via unanimous decision in a catchweight bout at 220 pounds; and Takahiro Okuyama (2-2, 1-0 Rizin) submitted fellow striker Tetsuya Yamato (0-1, 0-1 Rizin) with an armbar at the 4:10 mark of Round 1 at featherweight.
In two-round fights on the preliminary card, “Street Bob” Kousuke Sugimura (3-6, 1 NC; 1-0 Rizin) easily defeated Shogo Ota (5-6, 1-1 Rizin) via unanimous decision at lightweight; Kuushi Ishizaka (5-1, 1-0 Rizin) won his bantamweight fight against Mahiro Yamaki (3-2, 0-1 Rizin) via unanimous decision; Daisuke Kobayashi (6-2, 1-0 Rizin) notched a unanimous decision win over Syuto Sato (0-1, 0-1 Rizin) in flyweight action; and Yuhei Tsuda (1-0, 1-0 Rizin) prevailed via unanimous decision in his featherweight fight against Jin Wakita (4-2, 0-1 Rizin) to open the card.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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