RIZIN 2017 in Yokohama: Sakura - April 16 (OFFICIAL DISCUSSION)

RIZIN 2017 in Yokohama
April 16, 2017
Yokohama Arena
Yokohama, Japan

Openweight GP:
Kyoji Horiguchi (18-2)               vs.             (18-4) Yuki Motoya
Main Card | Flyweight | 128 lbs (58 kg)

Tatsuya Kawajiri (35-11)           vs.      (12-3)  Anthony Birchak    
Main Card | Featherweight | 145 lbs (66 kg)

Satoshi Ishii (14-7)                    vs.        (28-15) Heath Herring 
Main Card | Heavyweight | 265 lbs (120 kg)

Tenshin Nasukawa (2-0)            vs.   (3-0)  Francesco Ghigliotti
Main Card | Flyweight | 125 lbs (57 kg)

Rena Kubota (3-0)                     vs.               (7-1) Dóra Perjés
Main Card | Female Atomweight | 108 lbs (48 kg)

Yusuke Yachi (16-6)                   vs.   (18-9) Daron Cruickshank
Main Card | Lightweight | 155 lbs (70 kg)

Reina Miura (2-0)                       vs.              (1-0) Jazzy Gabert
Main Card | Female Catchweight | 198 lbs (90 kg)

Kanna Asakura (6-2)                   vs. (0-0) Aleksandra Toncheva
Main Card | Female Atomweight | 105 lbs (47 kg)

Saori Ishioka (14-10)                  vs.              (2-0) Bestare Kicaj
Main Card | Female Atomweight | 105 lbs (47 kg)

Kizaemon Saiga (3-2)                  vs.                                      TBA
Main Card | Flyweight | 125 lbs (57 kg)

More RIZIN.

Yes!!!!!!!

TeamJohnPerretti wrote:More RIZIN.

Yes!!!!!!!

I feel same way

Great news!

I Wonder who will be on the card ?

I really want to see Nemkov return after his performance last night. I think a rematch with Jiri could be a great fight.

King of the North wrote:I really want to see Nemkov return after his performance last night. I think a rematch with Jiri could be a great fight.

Nemkov is great but we still have to wait and see if he'll be needed tomorrow night and hopefully Jiri is recovering.

westcott123 wrote:I Wonder  who will be on the card ?

Hopefully Wand or Fedor

Seeing as Rizin 1 was in April earlier this year wouldn't this make it Rizin 2?

Rizin is doing everything the right way,they are spacing there events apart correctly unlike UFC that bombards people with mediocre events every other week,the match making is good also and the variety of fighters from countries
around the world and different organizations is done much better than anyone else.

What I think they have to focus on the most are two things to become the
word leader in mma in the world and those are scouting,its extremely important for Rizin to discover and create there own stars and high level
fighters that are exclusive to Rizin rather than getting fighters that just recycling fighters cut from UFC,its alright to pick up cut fighters and I would
even go as far to say its essential but only in moderation because Rizin wants there own stars that will make Rizin unique and in the second round of the GP
King MO and Cruickshank both American cage fighters suffered stoppage losses,that is significant for Rizin considering all the propaganda about how
anything not UFC is second rate,the key to disproving those opinions is by building your own stars and top fighters.

The second important move for Rizin to make is to reach a global audience through PPV like UFC or a TV deal with spike in the U.S or the equivalent to
spike or fox in Europe or Australia because the amount of fans that would shell
out money or tune in to these quality shows would be big,I can only hope they do this in the future because why should the UFC/WSOF get a piece of
the global market in mma with their sub standard events and Rizin which is
turning into the elite stage for mma shouldn't,I think that would be a missed
opportunity.

m1challengefan wrote:Rizin is doing everything the right way,they are spacing there events apart correctly unlike UFC that bombards people with mediocre events every other week,the match making is good also and the variety of fighters from countries
around the world and different organizations is done much better than anyone else.

What I think they have to focus on the most are two things to become the
word leader in mma in the world and those are scouting,its extremely important for Rizin to discover and create there own stars and high level
fighters that are exclusive to Rizin rather than getting fighters that just recycling fighters cut from UFC,its alright to pick up cut fighters and I would
even go as far to say its essential but only in moderation because Rizin wants there own stars that will make Rizin unique and in the second round of the GP
King MO and Cruickshank both American cage fighters suffered stoppage losses,that is significant for Rizin considering all the propaganda about how
anything not UFC is second rate,the key to disproving those opinions is by building your own stars and top fighters.

The second important move for Rizin to make is to reach a global audience through PPV like UFC or a TV deal with spike in the U.S or the equivalent to
spike or fox in Europe or Australia because the amount of fans that would shell
out money or tune in to these quality shows would be big,I can only hope they do this in the future because why should the UFC/WSOF get a piece of
the global market in mma with their sub standard events and Rizin which is
turning into the elite stage for mma shouldn't,I think that would be a missed
opportunity.

Great points. I agree, love what Rizin is doing so far.

There was some talk that CroCop and Wand will fight after GP when Wand gets healthy.

So maybe CroCop vs Wand III?

Rizin=PRIDEFC wrote:There was some talk that CroCop and Wand will fight after GP when Wand gets healthy.

So maybe CroCop vs Wand III?

That would make sense for this April card.

Gabbi Garcia vs Jasmin Alpha Female
Minoru vs Charles Crazy Horse
baruto vs the other guy that won bronze at the OWGP
JLB vs heath herring
Wand vs Crocop 3

Fight Suggestion

Aliakabari v Mighty Mo

Hopefully for the april event they bring in some new fighters along with some of
the stars that Rizin has created in there previous events like Teodoras,Prochazka,Moldavsky, I wouldn't mind seeing Jaideep again considering he went the distance with Teodoras.

I think soon they should try and set up some title fights for their weight divisions,in order to do that though they need to bring in some serious contenders not to say there doing a bad job or anything,I think the fact that Minakov is not signed to anyone would be a great opportunity for Rizin to have a real serious legit HW champ that is undefeated and also has key wins
on his resume he would be perfect and is available,so I think they need to jump on that immediately,as for the lighter divisions Rizin does have Kron which in my opinion is championship material for either the LW or FW classes
and he is unique in that he isn't a carbon copy of most of the fighters nowadays that are basically just boxers he is a bjj old school type of fighter
which is refreshing.

Finally the fights I would be hoping for on this card would have to be a return
of Heath after his performance against Aliarkbari he needs to come back and
I think the ideal match up would be against Carwin although if Carwin is not
healthy than as a previous poster said JLB would be a great fight also,one of the best matches from the GP event was Kitaoka and Cruickshank and Satoru
needs another tough opponent after that performance,for the rest of the event I would say its imperative that they at least introduce two new fighters
on the card in order to build the roster instead of recycling the same fighters
that is very important to grow this organization.

^Some really good ideas. I like your thoughts on Minakov. He would be a very solid free agent signing if they can pick him up.

CDF47 wrote:^Some really good ideas.  I like your thoughts on Minakov.  He would be a very solid free agent signing if they can pick him up.

bibano fernandes and marlon moraes are two 135lb free agents on the market

Yeah, as you guys mentioned, Minakov would be a great addition. His career has been weird for the last few years. I'd like to see him get back into it full force. They have young contenders to throw at him. Minakov vs Carwin could be interesting if Carwin ever makes it to a fight again.

From what Cro Cop has been saying, he is retire because of his bum knees but he has retired before so you never know. Hopefully Wand will be in Rizin at some point in time. I wouldn't mind Wand vs King Mo, after Wand gets a warm up fight in.

stu3ufc wrote:

CDF47 wrote:^Some really good ideas.  I like your thoughts on Minakov.  He would be a very solid free agent signing if they can pick him up.

bibano fernandes and marlon moraes are two 135lb free agents on the market

Plus, I think Gaethje and maybe David Branch may be free agents or become free agents soon.

Kinosis wrote:Yeah, as you guys mentioned, Minakov would be a great addition.  His career has been weird for the last few years.  I'd like to see him get back into it full force.  They have young contenders to throw at him.  Minakov vs Carwin could be interesting if Carwin ever makes it to a fight again.  

From what Cro Cop has been saying, he is retire because of his bum knees but he has retired before so you never know.  Hopefully Wand will be in Rizin at some point in time.  I wouldn't mind Wand vs King Mo, after Wand gets a warm up fight in.

I really hope Carwin goes to Rizin. Was looking forward to seeing him in that GP.

Guess it is Baruto vs. JBL

Hollywood Dang wrote:Guess it is Baruto vs. JBL

Where did you see this?

CDF47 wrote:

Hollywood Dang wrote:Guess it is Baruto vs. JBL

Where did you see this?

nowhere, it's a guess

Hollywood Dang wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

Hollywood Dang wrote:Guess it is Baruto vs. JBL

Where did you see this?

nowhere, it's a guess

I see. I thought that was probably the case but wanted to make sure.