RIZIN Bantamweight GP 1st Round Part 2 - October 15 (OFFICIAL DISCUSSION)

RIZIN  Bantamweight GP
October 15, 2017
Marine Messe Fukuoka
Fukuoka, Japan

Main Card:
Shintaro Ishiwatari (22-6)        vs.      (5-0) Akhmed Musakaev         
Main Card | GP Opening Round | Bantamweight | 135 lbs (61 kg)

Erson Yamamoto (2-2)             vs.                (6-1) Manel Kape
Main Card | GP Opening Round | Bantamweight | 135 lbs (61 kg)

Je Hoon Moon (10-9)                vs.             (12-3) Kevin Petshi
Main Card | GP Opening Round | Bantamweight | 135 lbs (61 kg)


Rena Kubota (4-0)                    vs.             (5-4) Andy Nguyen         
Main Card | Women GP Opening Round | Super Atomweight | 108 lbs (49 kg)

Kanna Asakura                         vs.       (6-4) Sylwia Juśkiewicz
Main Card | Women GP Opening Round | Super Atomweight  | 108 lbs (49 kg)

Miyuu Yamamoto (1-2)              vs.            (6-4) Irene Cabello         
Main Card | Women GP Opening Round | Super Atomweight | 108 lbs (49 kg)

Maria Oliveira (9-2)                    vs.           (3-3) Alyssa Garcia
Main Card | Women GP Opening Round | Super Atomweight  | 108 lbs (49 kg)

Kazushi Sakuraba (26-17)          vs.   (23-10)  Frank Shamrock    
Main Card | Grappling Superfight  

Bantamweight King Of Pancrase Shintaro Ishiwatari has been announced as the latest participant in the RIZIN Bantamweight Grand-Prix.
 
Ishiwatari (22-6-4) has won four-straight, and in his most recent outing two months ago he decisively beat Rafael Silva to defend his bantamweight title.

Part of his current four-fight run includes a TKO win against Takafumi Otsuka, who advanced to the Grand-Prix Quarter-Finals. In 2013, Ishiwatari had a five round battle with Kyoji Horiguchi before he was eventually stopped in the fifth and final round.
He has long been considered one of the best fighters in Japan, and now he has the chance to further prove that when he joins the RIZIN Bantamweight Bw Grand-Prix.

Also, UFC Hall of Fame members Dan Henderson and Kazushi Sakuraba will meet in a special rules grappling bout at the fight promotion’s Oct. 15 event in Fukuoka, Japan.

Both Henderson and Sakuraba have retired from mixed martial arts competition, but are still active in the gym and on the mat.

Will be interested to see who they line up Ishiwatari against.  It's cool they got both DEEP and Pancrase champs in the tournament. Plus, Kyoji.

I wonder when the women's tournament is spoused to start ? . Next year I hope they do tournament in the welterweight middle weight and light heavyweight divisions (though as I said before I would some pride nostalgia with the 185 and 205 division)  ,Last and not least hopefully they start crowing divisional champions

westcott123 wrote:I wonder when the women's tournament is spoused to start ? . Next year I hope they do tournament in the welterweight middle weight and light heavyweight divisions (though as I said before I would some pride nostalgia with the 185 and 205 division)  ,Last and not least hopefully they start crowing divisional champions

MW and LHW GPs would be great to see. Champs are definitely due, especially in HW and BW divisions where the GPs have been held.

They will announce RENA's opponent for the woman's GP!!

Rena is back to action in the Rizin Woman's Atomweight GP  against Andy Nguyen.

RIZIN FF announced details the opponent for this GP’s favorite RENA (4-0). RENA has been a standout fighter in her original background Shoot Boxing, and has raked up an impressive 35-5 record, and hasn’t been defeated since she came short I a decision loss against Jessica Penne in 2011. The Shoot Boxing ace made her MMA debut on RIZIN’s first evet which was held on NYE of 2015, and shocked the world with a flying arm bar finish. She has since fought 3 times, finishing all opponents in spectacular fashion. She looks to staple herself as the Queen of combat sports, by winning this tournament in dominant fashion.

Nguyen (5-3), the current King of the Cage Atom weight Champion will be making her second appearance in the RIZIN ring after a fabulous performance in her promotional debut. The KOTC Champion submitted a wrestling world champion Miyuu Yamamoto (1-2) with an extremely crafty straight arm bar which earned herself a spot RIZIN’s first ever woman’s world GP. Nguyen is currently o a 3 fight winning streak, and is set to defend her title this weekend. Regardless of the results, Nguyen will take part in RIZIN’s GP facing RENA in the opening round.

Kingfedor wrote:
Rena is back to action in the Rizin Woman's Atomweight GP  against Andy Nguyen.

RIZIN FF announced details the opponent for this GP’s favorite RENA (4-0). RENA has been a standout fighter in her original background Shoot Boxing, and has raked up an impressive 35-5 record, and hasn’t been defeated since she came short I a decision loss against Jessica Penne in 2011. The Shoot Boxing ace made her MMA debut on RIZIN’s first evet which was held on NYE of 2015, and shocked the world with a flying arm bar finish. She has since fought 3 times, finishing all opponents in spectacular fashion. She looks to staple herself as the Queen of combat sports, by winning this tournament in dominant fashion.

Nguyen (5-3), the current King of the Cage Atom weight Champion will be making her second appearance in the RIZIN ring after a fabulous performance in her promotional debut. The KOTC Champion submitted a wrestling world champion Miyuu Yamamoto (1-2) with an extremely crafty straight arm bar which earned herself a spot RIZIN’s first ever woman’s world GP. Nguyen is currently o a 3 fight winning streak, and is set to defend her title this weekend. Regardless of the results, Nguyen will take part in RIZIN’s GP facing RENA in the opening round.

Good opening round fight for the GP; Rena vs. KOTC champ.

I really like the fact that I'm only gonna have to wait a couple months to see another Rizin event,also like the addition of Ishiwatari to the BWGP and am looking forward to seeing Taha again as well,they have got to have some really serious fights for the heavier weight classes though on this card and should really try to have Minakov since he is just out there it doesn't make sense to not pick him up with Amir being so dominant he is gonna need a challenging opponent not someone the likes of King,I've heard that Aleksander is coming back to competition so why not have him in Rizin,they have to jump at these opportunities especially when trying to get legit HW'S but other than that the BWGP has been super entertaining so far and I even liked the Reina fight and hopefully for this event it gets posted online or there is a internet ppv so people can watch live.

m1challengefan wrote:I really like the fact that I'm only gonna have to wait a couple months to see another Rizin event,also like the addition of Ishiwatari to the BWGP and am looking forward to seeing Taha again as well,they have got to have some really serious fights for the heavier weight classes though on this card and should really try to have Minakov since he is just out there it doesn't make sense to not pick him up with Amir being so dominant he is gonna need a challenging opponent not someone the likes of King,I've heard that Aleksander is coming back to competition so why not have him in Rizin,they have to jump at these opportunities especially when trying to get legit HW'S but other than that the BWGP has been super entertaining so far and I even liked the Reina fight and hopefully for this event it gets posted online or there is a internet ppv so people can watch live.

Some great points. They have a live PPV on the Internet at Fite.tv for $19.99.

CDF47 wrote:

m1challengefan wrote:I really like the fact that I'm only gonna have to wait a couple months to see another Rizin event,also like the addition of Ishiwatari to the BWGP and am looking forward to seeing Taha again as well,they have got to have some really serious fights for the heavier weight classes though on this card and should really try to have Minakov since he is just out there it doesn't make sense to not pick him up with Amir being so dominant he is gonna need a challenging opponent not someone the likes of King,I've heard that Aleksander is coming back to competition so why not have him in Rizin,they have to jump at these opportunities especially when trying to get legit HW'S but other than that the BWGP has been super entertaining so far and I even liked the Reina fight and hopefully for this event it gets posted online or there is a internet ppv so people can watch live.

Some great points.  They have a live PPV on the Internet at Fite.tv for $19.99.

which is very good price to pay a minokov vs alikabari match would be great though with alex with his conviction and spending time in prison would he even allowed in japan ? .

westcott123 wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

m1challengefan wrote:I really like the fact that I'm only gonna have to wait a couple months to see another Rizin event,also like the addition of Ishiwatari to the BWGP and am looking forward to seeing Taha again as well,they have got to have some really serious fights for the heavier weight classes though on this card and should really try to have Minakov since he is just out there it doesn't make sense to not pick him up with Amir being so dominant he is gonna need a challenging opponent not someone the likes of King,I've heard that Aleksander is coming back to competition so why not have him in Rizin,they have to jump at these opportunities especially when trying to get legit HW'S but other than that the BWGP has been super entertaining so far and I even liked the Reina fight and hopefully for this event it gets posted online or there is a internet ppv so people can watch live.

Some great points.  They have a live PPV on the Internet at Fite.tv for $19.99.

which is very good price to pay a minokov vs alikabari match would be great though  with alex with his conviction and spending time in prison  would he even allowed in japan ? .

I plan to buy all the Rizin events at that price. Minakov/Amir would be great to see.

Several match ups will be announced tonight

RIZIN FF announced 2 matchups for the opening round of Bracket B for Bantam weight GP, and the remaining participants for the highly anticipated first ever women’s Super Atom weight GP. RIZIN FF has previously announce the matchup between RENA (4-0) vs Andy Nguyen (5-4). 
 
The 2 matchups for the opening round for Bracket B of the ongoing Bantam weight GP included King of Pancrase, Shintaro Ishiwatari facing a young up and comer from Fight Nights Global.

RIZIN Bantamweight GP:
Erson Yamamoto vs. Manel Kape
Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Akhmed Musakaev


RIZIN Super Atomweight GP:
Miyuu Yamamoto vs. Irene Cabello Rivera
Alyssa Garcia vs. Maria Oliveira
Kanna Asakura / Saori Ishioka vs. Sylwia Juśkiewicz

Miyuu Yamamoto (1-2) will be facing Irene Rivera  (6-4) from Spain, Josh Barnett’s protégé Alyssa Garcia (3-3) will be facing Angel’s & Fight champion Maria Oliveira (9-2), and the winner of Saori Ishioka (15-10) vs Kanna Asakura (7-2) will be taking on Poland’s Sylwia Juskiewicz  (6-4).

Brackets for the women’s Super Atom weight GP have been determined and the winner of  RENA vs Andy Nguyen and Miyuu Yamamoto vs Irene Rivera will be facing each other in the Semi Finals The winner of Alyssa Garcia vs Maria Oliveira and Sywia Juskiewicz vs Asakura / Ishioka will be facing each other in the Semi Finals.
 
General Manager Nobuhiko Takada mentioned that for the men’s Bantamweight GP, once all Quarter finalists have been determined, the matchups and brackets will be shuffled ad determined later by a draw with all 8 quarter finalists.
 
Takada added that RIZIN will add 2-3 kickboxing bouts, giving local fighters the opportunity and exposure, with the total number of bouts to finalize at 11-12 bouts.

Kingfedor wrote:
RIZIN FF announced 2 matchups for the opening round of Bracket B for Bantam weight GP, and the remaining participants for the highly anticipated first ever women’s Super Atom weight GP. RIZIN FF has previously announce the matchup between RENA (4-0) vs Andy Nguyen (5-4). 
 
The 2 matchups for the opening round for Bracket B of the ongoing Bantam weight GP included King of Pancrase, Shintaro Ishiwatari facing a young up and comer from Fight Nights Global.

RIZIN Bantamweight GP:
Erson Yamamoto vs. Manel Kape
Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Akhmed Musakaev


RIZIN Super Atomweight GP:
Miyuu Yamamoto vs. Irene Cabello Rivera
Alyssa Garcia vs. Maria Oliveira
Kanna Asakura / Saori Ishioka vs. Sylwia Juśkiewicz

Miyuu Yamamoto (1-2) will be facing Irene Rivera  (6-4) from Spain, Josh Barnett’s protégé Alyssa Garcia (3-3) will be facing Angel’s & Fight champion Maria Oliveira (9-2), and the winner of Saori Ishioka (15-10) vs Kanna Asakura (7-2) will be taking on Poland’s Sylwia Juskiewicz  (6-4).

Brackets for the women’s Super Atom weight GP have been determined and the winner of  RENA vs Andy Nguyen and Miyuu Yamamoto vs Irene Rivera will be facing each other in the Semi Finals The winner of Alyssa Garcia vs Maria Oliveira and Sywia Juskiewicz vs Asakura / Ishioka will be facing each other in the Semi Finals.
 
General Manager Nobuhiko Takada mentioned that for the men’s Bantamweight GP, once all Quarter finalists have been determined, the matchups and brackets will be shuffled ad determined later by a draw with all 8 quarter finalists.
 
Takada added that RIZIN will add 2-3 kickboxing bouts, giving local fighters the opportunity and exposure, with the total number of bouts to finalize at 11-12 bouts.

Loving this BW GP so far. Looking forward to that Ishiwatri fight.

Rizin seems to be undergoing steady growth, building up stars one fight and one event at a time.

nodogoshi wrote:Rizin seems to be undergoing steady growth, building up stars one fight and one event at a time.

I know, I like what they are doing as well. They definitely are building up their own cast of fighters I'm interested in, as well as bringing in fighters from other orgs.

CDF47 wrote:

nodogoshi wrote:Rizin seems to be undergoing steady growth, building up stars one fight and one event at a time.

I know, I like what they are doing as well.  They definitely are building up their own cast of fighters I'm interested in, as well as bringing in fighters from other orgs.

It is good they're doing that on the plus side they the zombies can't use the they're past their prime Schtick

westcott123 wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

nodogoshi wrote:Rizin seems to be undergoing steady growth, building up stars one fight and one event at a time.

I know, I like what they are doing as well.  They definitely are building up their own cast of fighters I'm interested in, as well as bringing in fighters from other orgs.

It is good they're doing that on the plus  side they the zombies can't use the they're past their prime Schtick

Agreed

TOKYO Roppongi – September 1st, RIZIN held a press conference in Tokyo at the RIZIN HQ to announce an addition to the Fukuoka event. Tatsuya Kawajiri will be fighting on the card to get himself into the Bantamweight Grand-Prix as the wildcard.
  
RIZIN General Manager Nobuhiko Takada announced that Tatsuya Kawajiri will be facing an undefeated prospect from Brazil, Gabriel Oliveira (9-0) at 63kg (138.9lb). He followed up the announcement that the winner will be set to take one of the wildcard spots for December 29th. Both fighters will be dropping a weight class from their original feather weight division, so the weight for this fight is set at catch weight, which then the winner has to make 61kg in December.

“Kawajiri sent me a picture in July, during the madness of putting together the event. I thought that he just wanted to bug me about getting on the October event, but the picture was him standing on a scale at 63kg (138lb), and he told me he wanted in on the Bantamweight tournament. He usually walks around at 75kg and he dropped all this weight just to tell me he wanted to get in the tournament. This moment, I knew the determination of Kawajiri, and I had to consider putting him in the tournament.”

The Japanese MMA veteran fought his first half of his career in the welterweight division putting on memorial performances with Takanori Gomi, Gilbert Melendez, Eddie Alvarez and more.  Kawajiri fought his first appearance at featherweight in 2011, when he fought Joachim Hansen in DREAM 17 and stayed at 145lb since. The former Shooto world Champion has fought 13 fights since, in the featherweight division fighting in DREAM, One Championship, UFC and RIZIN. 
 
If he earns the spot for the wildcard, this will be Kawajiri’s first attempt to make 135lb, and it won’t be an easy task, but the former UFC vet is determined to make the weight. “The only reason why I am doing this, is because I want Horiguchi. If he wasn’t in this tournament, I would never go through all of this pain to just make weight. I want to put everything I have, everything I have worked for, in this tournament to fight the icon of Japan’s young, promising generation. I made it down to 63kg (138lb) in July for a test, and I have been able to keep my weight around 68kg (150lb) and feel strong for the past 2 months. I will be ready to make weight and perform the same.”

Gabriel Oliveira is the current Featherweight Champion 3 promotions, 2 countries. X-Force MMA, Curitiba Top Fight in Brazil, and Peru FC in Peru, holding a perfect 9-0 record. The Rio de Janeiro native stands at 173cm (5’8”), and utilizes his significant reach and boxing skills to control the fight on the feet, the style which has awarded him with 4 TKO victories. The 27 year old has fought at Bantamweight in his most recent fight, and will be more comfortable fighting at the lighter weight class than his opponent. Oliveira looks to showcase his skills to the world in the biggest platform he has ever fought in, and impress the world by defeating a Japanese legend.

That would be a great addition to this already stacked GP.

http://mmajunkie.com/2017/09/tatsuya-kawajiri-gabriel-oliveira-rizin-ff-7-bantamweight-grand-prix

Kawajiri is only entering the grand Prix cause he wants to fight horuguchi obviously horuguchi is the favorite though it would be awesome as well to see some one from the old guard win it ad well.

westcott123 wrote:http://mmajunkie.com/2017/09/tatsuya-kawajiri-gabriel-oliveira-rizin-ff-7-bantamweight-grand-prix

Kawajiri is only entering the grand Prix cause he wants to fight horuguchi  obviously horuguchi is the favorite though it would be awesome as well to see some one from the old guard win it ad well.

Yeah, that's what he said. I wouldn't mind seeing Kawajiri doing well in this GP. I wonder who the last fighter will be to enter this GP.

RIZIN held a press conference in Tokyo at the RIZIN HQ to announce 5 additional card to the Fukuoka event. During the conference, the final participants for the Bantamweight GP were announced, along with rising star Tenshin Nasukawa’s opponent.  

RIZIN General Manager Nobuhiko Takada announced that the final slot for the Bantam weight GP is Road FC’s top contender Jae Hoon Moon (10-9) vs Superior Challenge Bantamweight Champion, and French prospect Kevin Petshi (12-3). This makes Bracket B complete along with the previously announced Shintaro Ishiwatari (22-6) vs Akhmed Musakaev (5-0) and Erson Yamamoto (2-2) vs Manel Kape (6-1).The winners will advance to the quarter finals held on December 29th, where awaits Kyoji Horiguchi (20-2), Takafumi Otsuka (23-13), Khalid Taha (11-0), who all have earned their spot in the July event, and 2 wildcard slots, which is yet to be announced. The drawing for the Quarter finals will be done the day after the Fukuoka event.

RIZIN’s upcoming prospect Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0) will be facing a Japanese elite boxing champion Yamato Fujita who will be making his professional MMA debut. Fujita has countless accomplishments in the amateur boxing scene in Japan, winning 5 National titles and beating a London Olympic Bronze medalist. He transitioned to MMA in 2016, and has had 2 amateur MMA bouts, winning them both.  

Fujita provoked Nasukawa during the conference saying “It is an honor for me to be making my MMA debut on such a prestigious platform, against such a great name. I think it is a terrific opportunity for me to beat the fighter with all the hype and make a name for myself. I understand that Nasukawa is an accomplished kick boxer, but my hands are much better, I hope he fights me with his hands only.”  The aggravated Nasukawa responded “I have seen many of his boxing fights. He is tough, but nothing special, I am a kickboxer but still I have better hands.” When questioned about beating a former boxing world champion under kickboxing rules the 19 year old responded, “I was so set on beating a boxing champion with my hands, I got sloppy and it took me a while to KO him. If I could stay calm, I could have finished him much earlier. Now I have had that experience, and know exactly how to finish a boxer. I know my opponent has a different style and he has MMA experience, so I hope he can surprise me.”  

This fight will be under RIZIN MMA Special rules with 3 rounds x 5 minutes.

Nobuhiko Takada also added that there will be 3 kick boxing fights, giving opportunity to local fighters in Fukuoka to showcase their talent in a large platform.

Issei Ishii (19-8-2) vs Jin Mandokoro (7-0)
YUKI (28-21) vs Kurogi Darvish (15-12-5)
Ryota Renseigym (8-4) vs Yoshihisa Morimoto (8-4-1)

Kingfedor wrote:
RIZIN held a press conference in Tokyo at the RIZIN HQ to announce 5 additional card to the Fukuoka event. During the conference, the final participants for the Bantamweight GP were announced, along with rising star Tenshin Nasukawa’s opponent.  

RIZIN General Manager Nobuhiko Takada announced that the final slot for the Bantam weight GP is Road FC’s top contender Jae Hoon Moon (10-9) vs Superior Challenge Bantamweight Champion, and French prospect Kevin Petshi (12-3). This makes Bracket B complete along with the previously announced Shintaro Ishiwatari (22-6) vs Akhmed Musakaev (5-0) and Erson Yamamoto (2-2) vs Manel Kape (6-1).The winners will advance to the quarter finals held on December 29th, where awaits Kyoji Horiguchi (20-2), Takafumi Otsuka (23-13), Khalid Taha (11-0), who all have earned their spot in the July event, and 2 wildcard slots, which is yet to be announced. The drawing for the Quarter finals will be done the day after the Fukuoka event.

RIZIN’s upcoming prospect Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0) will be facing a Japanese elite boxing champion Yamato Fujita who will be making his professional MMA debut. Fujita has countless accomplishments in the amateur boxing scene in Japan, winning 5 National titles and beating a London Olympic Bronze medalist. He transitioned to MMA in 2016, and has had 2 amateur MMA bouts, winning them both.  

Fujita provoked Nasukawa during the conference saying “It is an honor for me to be making my MMA debut on such a prestigious platform, against such a great name. I think it is a terrific opportunity for me to beat the fighter with all the hype and make a name for myself. I understand that Nasukawa is an accomplished kick boxer, but my hands are much better, I hope he fights me with his hands only.”  The aggravated Nasukawa responded “I have seen many of his boxing fights. He is tough, but nothing special, I am a kickboxer but still I have better hands.” When questioned about beating a former boxing world champion under kickboxing rules the 19 year old responded, “I was so set on beating a boxing champion with my hands, I got sloppy and it took me a while to KO him. If I could stay calm, I could have finished him much earlier. Now I have had that experience, and know exactly how to finish a boxer. I know my opponent has a different style and he has MMA experience, so I hope he can surprise me.”  

This fight will be under RIZIN MMA Special rules with 3 rounds x 5 minutes.

Nobuhiko Takada also added that there will be 3 kick boxing fights, giving opportunity to local fighters in Fukuoka to showcase their talent in a large platform.

Issei Ishii (19-8-2) vs Jin Mandokoro (7-0)
YUKI (28-21) vs Kurogi Darvish (15-12-5)
Ryota Renseigym (8-4) vs Yoshihisa Morimoto (8-4-1)

Good to see Tenshin will be fighting. He is a top prospect right now in MMA.

He sure is it is great that Rizin has these up And comers Rizin is pride 2.0  . different subject if was doing Rizin weight division mine would look like this
Men
° heavy weight no limit
° middle weight 205
° welter weight 185
° light weight 170
° feather weight 155
° bantam weight 145
° fly weight 135
Women
Feather weight 155
Bantam weight 145
Flyweight 135
Straw weight 125
Atom weight 115

That how I would have it .