Rizin 13 - Saitama - September 30 (OFFICIAL DISCUSSION)

Rizin 13
September 30, 2018
Sataima Super Arena
Sataima, Japan

Main Card:
Kyoji Horiguchi (25-2)    vs.  (27-0)  Tenshin Nasukawa 
Main Event | Kickboxing | Flyweight | 125 lbs (58 kg)

Osunaarashi (35-15)      vs.              (11-20) Bob Sapp
Main Card | Special Rules | Openweight

Mirko Cro Cop (36-11)    vs.       (12-3) Roque Martinez   
Main Card | Heavyweight | 265 lbs (120 kg)

Diego Brandão (23-12)   vs.(21-10) Daron Cruickshank   
Main Card | Lightweight | 155 lbs (70 kg)

Mina Kurobe (12-3)        vs.     (15-2) Ayaka Hamasaki   
Main Card | Women's Super Atomweight | 108 lbs (49 kg)

Yusaku Nakamura (14-5) vs.           (11-3) Manel Kape   
Main Card | Catchweight  | 128 lbs (58 kg)

Miyuu Yamamoto (2-3)    vs.          (6-6) Andy Nguyen   
Main Card | Women's Super Atomweight | 108 lbs (49 kg)

Taiga Kawabe (20-6)       vs.     (4-1) Kento Haraguchi   
Main Card | Kickboxing | Catchweight  | 130 lbs (59 kg)

Kingfedor wrote:
Rizin 13
September 30, 2018
Sataima Super Arena
Sataima, Japan

Main Card:
Kyoji Horiguchi (25-2)       vs.                                  TBA 
Main Event | Bantamweight | 135 lbs (60 kg)

Tenshin Nasukawa (24-2)  vs.                                  TBA 
Co-Main Event | Flyweight | 125 lbs (57 kg)

Mina Kurobe (12-3)           vs. (15-2) Ayaka Hamasaki   
Main Card | Women's Super Atomweight | 108 lbs (49 kg)

Osunaarashi (35-15)         vs.                                  TBA
Main Card | Openweight)

Tenshin Nasukawa is 27-0.

His last fight was on 6/17/2018 in Rise, and he won a controversial extra-round decision, to remain undefeated.

Tenshin Nasukawa Keeps his Undefeated Record by the Skin of his Teeth

Unless he's lost twice in the past 2 months; but I don't think so.

It should be interesting to see what Osunaarashi can do. To be sure, he wasn't close to the level of Baruto in sumo. Baruto was an elite.

Osunaarashi though had a very aggressive sumo style. He use to fairly regularly KO people with forearm strikes. His sumo weight is around 350. Baruto was a giant, including by sumo standards. Osunaarashi is both leaner and meaner than Baruto.

nodogoshi wrote:

Kingfedor wrote:
Rizin 13
September 30, 2018
Sataima Super Arena
Sataima, Japan

Main Card:
Kyoji Horiguchi (25-2)       vs.                                  TBA 
Main Event | Bantamweight | 135 lbs (60 kg)

Tenshin Nasukawa (24-2)  vs.                                  TBA 
Co-Main Event | Flyweight | 125 lbs (57 kg)

Mina Kurobe (12-3)           vs. (15-2) Ayaka Hamasaki   
Main Card | Women's Super Atomweight | 108 lbs (49 kg)

Osunaarashi (35-15)         vs.                                  TBA
Main Card | Openweight)

Tenshin Nasukawa is 27-0.

His last fight was on 6/17/2018 in Rise, and he won a controversial extra-round decision, to remain undefeated.

Tenshin Nasukawa Keeps his Undefeated Record by the Skin of his Teeth

Unless he's lost twice in the past 2 months; but I don't think so.

Yeah the Wiki page has him at 27-0 as well.

nodogoshi wrote:It should be interesting to see what Osunaarashi can do. To be sure, he wasn't close to the level of Baruto in sumo. Baruto was an elite.

Osunaarashi though had a very aggressive sumo style. He use to fairly regularly KO people with forearm strikes. His sumo weight is around 350. Baruto was a giant, including by sumo standards. Osunaarashi is both leaner and meaner than Baruto.

I wish Baruto would get serious about MMA and make his way back to Rizin.

I'm hoping Osunaarashi fairs well at MMA.

Some rumors we know so far for the last two events for 2018 are below:

- Kickboxing tournament including Tenshin, some of the fighters from Rizin.12, and possibly Horiguchi may begin at Rizin.13 and end on NYE

- Wand wants to fight on NYE

- Cro Cop may fight on NYE which might be his last fight.  Possible opponents are Jiri, Kharitonov, Minakov,...

- It is unclear if there will be an MMA GP this year

- Gustavo will most likely be fighting on one of the 2 shows remaining in 2018

- Mach Sakurai wants to fight Roque. Mach was in Samurai's corner at Rizin.12.

- Yachi is rumored to make his return to the Rizin ring at Rizin.13

CDF47 wrote:

nodogoshi wrote:It should be interesting to see what Osunaarashi can do. To be sure, he wasn't close to the level of Baruto in sumo. Baruto was an elite.

Osunaarashi though had a very aggressive sumo style. He use to fairly regularly KO people with forearm strikes. His sumo weight is around 350. Baruto was a giant, including by sumo standards. Osunaarashi is both leaner and meaner than Baruto.

I wish Baruto would get serious about MMA and make his way back to Rizin.  

I'm hoping Osunaarashi fairs well at MMA.

Osunaarashi was still a major leaguer. He had an alright run in the sumo top division. And he was very aggressive like I said, and had a very active style. Seemingly has good endurance for a sumo wrestler.

I just meant to point out that Baruto was a true elite. He had a long run as an Ozeki, which is just one rank below Yokozuna. He's the best sumo wrestler to fight in MMA, with the exception of Akebono. But Akebono was older, had a longer sumo career and took more punishment, and was well past it by the time he fought. He was also larger than Baruto even, and his size worked against him in his fights.

nodogoshi wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

nodogoshi wrote:It should be interesting to see what Osunaarashi can do. To be sure, he wasn't close to the level of Baruto in sumo. Baruto was an elite.

Osunaarashi though had a very aggressive sumo style. He use to fairly regularly KO people with forearm strikes. His sumo weight is around 350. Baruto was a giant, including by sumo standards. Osunaarashi is both leaner and meaner than Baruto.

I wish Baruto would get serious about MMA and make his way back to Rizin.  

I'm hoping Osunaarashi fairs well at MMA.

Osunaarashi was still a major leaguer. He had an alright run in the sumo top division. And he was very aggressive like I said, and had a very active style. Seemingly has good endurance for a sumo wrestler.

I just meant to point out that Baruto was a true elite. He had a long run as an Ozeki, which is just one rank below Yokozuna. He's the best sumo wrestler to fight in MMA, with the exception of Akebono. But Akebono was older, had a longer sumo career and took more punishment, and was well past it by the time he fought. He was also larger than Baruto even, and his size worked against him in his fights.

That's a good breakdown of the sumo wrestlers, a sport I have limited knowledge in. Would be cool to see more sumo wrestlers make the cross over to MMA. Rizin is a great home for that. Baruto looked good until that knee to the gut from Cro Cop. If they could find someone who would really train and take it really serious, they could be a threat in MMA, using the Baruto style.

Press conference for RIZIN.13 tomorrow August 24th (Fri) at 5:30 pm Tokyo time.

Many fight announcements Kyoji Horiguchi, Kai Asakura, DEEP straweight champ Ochi Haruo and Pancrase straweight champ Mitsuhisa Sunabe will be present at tomorrow's RIZIN press conference

Nice. Some a lot of GMMA ranked strawweights on this card. They might be bringing in new talent for Horiguchi (DEEP and Pancrase champs). Looking forward to hearing the fight announcements.

RIZIN.13 will be taking place at the Saitama Super Arena on September 30th. This event will mark the promotion’s 4th event in 2018. Chairman Nobuyuki Sakakibara looks to ride the momentum that the previous events have delivered in the past couple months and announced 11 fights out of 12 scheduled fights for the September 30th event.

TOKYO – On August 24th RIZIN FIGHTING FEDERATION held a press conference. The promotion announced 11 fights out of 12 scheduled fights. UFC veteran Daron Cruickshank (20-10-1NC) has somewhat earned himself the spot as the gatekeeper in RIZIN’s Light weight division. This will be his 3rd appearance in RIZIN this year riding a 2 fight winning streak, both with vicious stoppages against RIZIN newcomers. But this fight, the Detroit Superstar will be facing a well experienced veteran and equally violent Diego Brandao (23-12). Brandao made his promotional debut on the RIZIN.11 event, viciously pounding out veteran Satoru Kitaoka in 90 seconds.

 RIZIN’s Light Heavy weight prospect Jiri Prochazka (21-3-1) will be facing WSOF / PFL veteran Jake Heun (11-7). The Czech Native was scheduled to face the legendary Mirko Crocop in RIZIN.11, however the fight got rescheduled due to Mirko injuring his knee. “Denisa” faced Jungle Light Heavy weight champion Bruno Cappelozza instead and finished the Brazilian with punches at1:23 into the first round. The WSOF veteran and currently PFL roster fighter is currently coming off of a KO loss against Alex Nicholson. 

 Mirko Crocop (36-11-2-1NC) will be making his comeback fight after a severe knee injury which forced him to pull out of a Bellator fight in May and RIZIN fight in July. The legendary fighter has mentioned that his retirement fight will be on RIZIN’s NYE event, and looks to surpass his uprising foe Roque Martinez (13-4-2). The current DEEP Megaton champion is currently riding an 8 fight winning streak and has been undefeated for the past 5 years. This will be the Guamanian’s third appearance in the RIZIN ring and the second time going against a K-1 legend. 

RIZIN’s biggest announcement was the super fight between the undefeated kickboxing Phenom and RIZIN 2017 -59kg Kickboxing GP champion Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0 MMA / 25-0 KB) and RIZIN 2017 Bantam weight GP champion Kyoji Horiguchi (25-2 MMA / 0-0 KB) under kickboxing rules. Nasukawa who just turned 20 years old, has been the highest praised kickboxer that Japan has seen in decades while 27 year old Horiguchi has been unstoppable in his division in MM, who is currently riding a 10 fight winning streak.

General Manager Nobuhiko Takada added that the originally planned 8 man Kickboxing tournament will not be taking place and there will be a 4 man 1 night tournament on NYE. “Nasukawa vs Horiguchi was the fight that everybody wanted to see on NYE for the finals. But anything could happen during a tournament, and the fight may not happen while the hype is there. So Horiguchi suggested that why not just put a super fight in September, we pitched to Nasukawa and here we are.” Taiga vs Haraguchi fight will also be a fight where the winner will most likely be considered in the 4 man tournament. 

 
 [Confirmed bouts]  -MMA-
Tenshin Nasukawa vs Kyoji Horiguchi [Kick Boxing]
Taiga vs Kento Haraguchi [Kick Boxing]
Ayaka Hamasaki vs Mina Kurobe 
Kai Asakura vs Topnoi Tiger Muay Thai
Mikuru Asakura vs Karshyga Dauitbek
Andy Nguyen vs Miyuu Yamamoto
Daron Cruickshank vs Diego Brandao
Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs Haruo Ochi
Yusaku Nakamura vs Manel Kape
Mirko Crocop vs Roque Martinez
Jiri Prochazka vs Jake Heun

Excited about Nasukawa vs Horiguchi.
I would like better opponent for CroCop. CC should not waste his last few fights on guys like Kosaka and Martinez but I am happy that he is fighting before NYE.

Kingfedor wrote:
RIZIN.13 will be taking place at the Saitama Super Arena on September 30th. This event will mark the promotion’s 4th event in 2018. Chairman Nobuyuki Sakakibara looks to ride the momentum that the previous events have delivered in the past couple months and announced 11 fights out of 12 scheduled fights for the September 30th event.

TOKYO – On August 24th RIZIN FIGHTING FEDERATION held a press conference. The promotion announced 11 fights out of 12 scheduled fights. UFC veteran Daron Cruickshank (20-10-1NC) has somewhat earned himself the spot as the gatekeeper in RIZIN’s Light weight division. This will be his 3rd appearance in RIZIN this year riding a 2 fight winning streak, both with vicious stoppages against RIZIN newcomers. But this fight, the Detroit Superstar will be facing a well experienced veteran and equally violent Diego Brandao (23-12). Brandao made his promotional debut on the RIZIN.11 event, viciously pounding out veteran Satoru Kitaoka in 90 seconds.

 RIZIN’s Light Heavy weight prospect Jiri Prochazka (21-3-1) will be facing WSOF / PFL veteran Jake Heun (11-7). The Czech Native was scheduled to face the legendary Mirko Crocop in RIZIN.11, however the fight got rescheduled due to Mirko injuring his knee. “Denisa” faced Jungle Light Heavy weight champion Bruno Cappelozza instead and finished the Brazilian with punches at1:23 into the first round. The WSOF veteran and currently PFL roster fighter is currently coming off of a KO loss against Alex Nicholson. 

 Mirko Crocop (36-11-2-1NC) will be making his comeback fight after a severe knee injury which forced him to pull out of a Bellator fight in May and RIZIN fight in July. The legendary fighter has mentioned that his retirement fight will be on RIZIN’s NYE event, and looks to surpass his uprising foe Roque Martinez (13-4-2). The current DEEP Megaton champion is currently riding an 8 fight winning streak and has been undefeated for the past 5 years. This will be the Guamanian’s third appearance in the RIZIN ring and the second time going against a K-1 legend. 

RIZIN’s biggest announcement was the super fight between the undefeated kickboxing Phenom and RIZIN 2017 -59kg Kickboxing GP champion Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0 MMA / 25-0 KB) and RIZIN 2017 Bantam weight GP champion Kyoji Horiguchi (25-2 MMA / 0-0 KB) under kickboxing rules. Nasukawa who just turned 20 years old, has been the highest praised kickboxer that Japan has seen in decades while 27 year old Horiguchi has been unstoppable in his division in MM, who is currently riding a 10 fight winning streak.

General Manager Nobuhiko Takada added that the originally planned 8 man Kickboxing tournament will not be taking place and there will be a 4 man 1 night tournament on NYE. “Nasukawa vs Horiguchi was the fight that everybody wanted to see on NYE for the finals. But anything could happen during a tournament, and the fight may not happen while the hype is there. So Horiguchi suggested that why not just put a super fight in September, we pitched to Nasukawa and here we are.” Taiga vs Haraguchi fight will also be a fight where the winner will most likely be considered in the 4 man tournament. 

 
 [Confirmed bouts]  -MMA-
Tenshin Nasukawa vs Kyoji Horiguchi [Kick Boxing]
Taiga vs Kento Haraguchi [Kick Boxing]
Ayaka Hamasaki vs Mina Kurobe 
Kai Asakura vs Topnoi Tiger Muay Thai
Mikuru Asakura vs Karshyga Dauitbek
Andy Nguyen vs Miyuu Yamamoto
Daron Cruickshank vs Diego Brandao
Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs Haruo Ochi
Yusaku Nakamura vs Manel Kape
Mirko Crocop vs Roque Martinez
Jiri Prochazka vs Jake Heun

Good to see the DEEP vs. Pancrase SW fight.  Winner should fight Horiguchi at 135 on NYE.  Also, cool to see Cro Cop making his return to the ring with another fight on NYE as well.  Plus, Jiri, is on this card and he is always exciting.

Cruickshank and Brandao should deliver.

Tenshin and Horiguchi is interesting fight but it is being fought under Tenshin's ruleset.  Have to go with Tenshin by decision in this one.

Manel Kape is also back.

Interesting PFL is letting one of their fighters go to Rizin in September. Hopefully this is the very start of a new partnership between the two orgs.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.mmafighting.com/platform/amp/2018/8/26/17783702/mma-legend-kid-yamamoto-announces-hes-fighting-cancer?espv=1


Kid yammamoto has been diagnosed with cancer oh and yes a partner ship between rizin and pfl would be great too.

westcott123 wrote:https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.mmafighting.com/platform/amp/2018/8/26/17783702/mma-legend-kid-yamamoto-announces-hes-fighting-cancer?espv=1


Kid yammamoto has been diagnosed with cancer oh and yes a partner ship between rizin and pfl would be great too.

Yeah. I hope he beats it though I am glad he's talking about beating it and returning as it's encouraging and he seems confident. Yamamoto is one of those legends who doesn't get his due from certain fans.

Rocksoldier84 wrote:

westcott123 wrote:https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.mmafighting.com/platform/amp/2018/8/26/17783702/mma-legend-kid-yamamoto-announces-hes-fighting-cancer?espv=1


Kid yammamoto has been diagnosed with cancer oh and yes a partner ship between rizin and pfl would be great too.

Yeah. I hope he beats it though I am glad he's talking about beating it and returning as it's encouraging and he seems confident. Yamamoto is one of those legends who doesn't get his due from certain fans.

No he doesn't back then him and Faber where arguably the two best in the world at that weight class.

I know he fought in Japan where the competition easier everyone is on steroids the fights are fake of course even western mma promotions aren't immune look at the crap they give Bellator I will 100x I will say 100x more they only want the ufc to be the big player in town. As for the fighters they just expect them to bend over and take it up the arse.

westcott123 wrote:https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.mmafighting.com/platform/amp/2018/8/26/17783702/mma-legend-kid-yamamoto-announces-hes-fighting-cancer?espv=1


Kid yammamoto has been diagnosed with cancer oh and yes a partner ship between rizin and pfl would be great too.

Sucks to hear Kid has cancer.

westcott123 wrote:

Rocksoldier84 wrote:

westcott123 wrote:https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.mmafighting.com/platform/amp/2018/8/26/17783702/mma-legend-kid-yamamoto-announces-hes-fighting-cancer?espv=1


Kid yammamoto has been diagnosed with cancer oh and yes a partner ship between rizin and pfl would be great too.

Yeah. I hope he beats it though I am glad he's talking about beating it and returning as it's encouraging and he seems confident. Yamamoto is one of those legends who doesn't get his due from certain fans.

No he doesn't back then him and Faber where arguably the two best in the world at that weight class.

I know he fought in Japan where the competition easier everyone is on steroids the fights are fake of course even western mma promotions aren't immune look at the crap they give Bellator I will 100x I will say 100x more they only want the ufc to be the big player in town. As for the fighters they just expect them to bend over and take it up the arse.

I think it's also because he's winless in the UFC so therefor, he must be overrated because he hasn't done good in "the big leagues".

The only criticism I will give Yamamoto is that he's beaten great fighters but some were not in their prime yet like Narantunglag, Miyata, and Bibiano. Still, he beat good names in Jeff Curran, Royler Gracie, Caol Uno, Genki Sudo, and Rani Yahya while dominating Josh Thomson before Thomson accidentally kicked him in the groin which lead to the no contest. Again, I also have respect for fighters moving up but Yamamoto took it to a new level fighting two weight classes above his normal one.

Rocksoldier84 wrote:

westcott123 wrote:

Rocksoldier84 wrote:

westcott123 wrote:https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.mmafighting.com/platform/amp/2018/8/26/17783702/mma-legend-kid-yamamoto-announces-hes-fighting-cancer?espv=1


Kid yammamoto has been diagnosed with cancer oh and yes a partner ship between rizin and pfl would be great too.

Yeah. I hope he beats it though I am glad he's talking about beating it and returning as it's encouraging and he seems confident. Yamamoto is one of those legends who doesn't get his due from certain fans.

No he doesn't back then him and Faber where arguably the two best in the world at that weight class.

I know he fought in Japan where the competition easier everyone is on steroids the fights are fake of course even western mma promotions aren't immune look at the crap they give Bellator I will 100x I will say 100x more they only want the ufc to be the big player in town. As for the fighters they just expect them to bend over and take it up the arse.

I think it's also because he's winless in the UFC so therefor, he must be overrated because he hasn't done good in "the big leagues".

The only criticism I will give Yamamoto is that he's beaten great fighters but some were not in their prime yet like Narantunglag, Miyata, and Bibiano. Still, he beat good names in Jeff Curran, Royler Gracie, Caol Uno, Genki Sudo, and Rani Yahya while dominating Josh Thomson before Thomson accidentally kicked him in the groin which lead to the no contest. Again, I also have respect for fighters moving up but Yamamoto took it to a new level fighting two weight classes above his normal one.

Yeah, there was a time when Kid and Faber were hands down the top FWs in the world but the fight couldn't happen because Faber was with WEC and Kid was with K-1.

Man it is a pity we didn't see that match between a prime kid and Faber.

westcott123 wrote:Man it is a pity we didn't see that match between a prime kid and Faber.

Yeah, it is a shame. At the same time we lost Fedor vs. Couture and Fedor vs. Lesnar as well as Penn vs. Aoki.

CDF47 wrote:

westcott123 wrote:Man it is a pity we didn't see that match between a prime kid and Faber.

Yeah, it is a shame.  At the same time we lost Fedor vs. Couture and Fedor vs. Lesnar as well as Penn vs. Aoki.

I was thinking Nogueira vs. Frye for the PRIDE World Heavyweight Championship. Imagine if Frye's ankles weren't fucked up after the Shamrock fight and we got this.

Rocksoldier84 wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

westcott123 wrote:Man it is a pity we didn't see that match between a prime kid and Faber.

Yeah, it is a shame.  At the same time we lost Fedor vs. Couture and Fedor vs. Lesnar as well as Penn vs. Aoki.

I was thinking Nogueira vs. Frye for the PRIDE World Heavyweight Championship. Imagine if Frye's ankles weren't fucked up after the Shamrock fight and we got this.

That would have been another great one. Wand/Liddell when they were both champs would have been unreal. Same with Franklin/Hendo when they were both champions.

Rizin.13 will likely be configured for the 25,000 seat capacity at Saitama which they plan on selling and then planning to use the full 37,000 seat capacity on NYE! Some great news out of Japan.

CDF47 wrote:Rizin.13 will likely be configured for the 25,000 seat capacity at Saitama which they plan on selling and then planning to use the full 37,000 seat capacity on NYE!  Some great news out of Japan.

That is good news to hear... Lol so much for their theory of Rizin shuting down after a few shows.