RIZIN 21 may not have had a lot of hype going in, but fans who tuned in were rewarded with lots of highlight-reel finishes. Mikuru Asakura (13-1) in the main event finished Mexico’s Daniel Salas (16-7-1) with a head kick and ground and pound in the second. In the co-main event, Victor Henry (20-4), might need to change his name to “Victory” as he extended his winning streak to seven fights. He finished Masanori Kanehara (27-14-5) with two crosses and then strikes when Kanehara fell to the canvas.
Mikuru Asakura vs. Daniel Salas
The older Asakura brother has been calling for tougher competition in his RIZIN career. Daniel Salas, who was a contestant on The Ultimate fighter, answered the call. As soon as the bell rang, it was clear who the superior fighter was at RIZIN 21. In this 68 kg catchweight match, Asakura outstruck and dominated Salas for the entire fight before the finish. Asakura was able to counter almost all of Salas’ strikes, avoid his kicks, and stuff a single leg takedown. After Asakura delivered the head kick in the second round, he swarmed Salas with ground and pound. He walked away after about five seconds of unanswered strikes raising his hands in the air and the ref called off the fight.
After the match, former ONE lightweight champion Kotetsu Boku came into the ring to challenge Asakura at the April 22 show in Yokohama.
You can see the full fight from RIZIN 21 here on RIZIN’s official Youtube channel:
Victor Henry vs. Masanori Kanehara
In a second meeting between these two bantamweight fan favorites, Victor Henry came back from being dominated in the first round to TKOing the former UFC fighter. In the first round, Kanehara got a very easy takedown on Henry. Kanehara took Henry’s back and tried for a rear-naked choke but Henry was able to block the submission attempt and survive the round. The second round saw Henry deliver two crosses to Kanehara. Kanehara fell down and Henry swarmed him. Kanehara was not defending the ground strikes and the referee called off the match.
After the match, Henry spoke on the microphone calling for a title shot. “I’ve been in the RIZIN ring twice now. The first time I ended it by submission. The second time knockout of a legend. Whose leg do I got to hump in order to get a title shot?” Henry is currently the DEEP bantamweight champion.
You can see the full fight from RIZIN 21 here on RIZIN’s official Youtube channel:
Other results of RIZIN 21
In a big boy heavyweight clash, Roque Martinez (16-6-2) knocked out former police officer and pro wrestler Hideki “Shrek” Sekine (7-4). The DEEP megaton champion knocked down Sekine and delivered two brutal soccer kicks to his opponent in the first round.
Marcos “Yoshio” Souza (9-2) came back from a devasting knockout loss in his RIZIN debut last year to deliver a knockout of his own to his opponent Falco Neto (11-11) in the first round.
The younger brother of Marcos Souza, Roberto Satoshi Souza, survived a 10-minute gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu gauntlet submitting all five grapplers on Yuki Nakai’s team.
Naoki Inoue (13-2) in his RIZIN debut went to a decision win in an exciting back and forth match with Australian Trent Girdham (12-4).
RIZIN 21 Results
Mikuru Asakura def. Daniel Salas via TKO (head kick and punches) at 2:34 of round 2
Victor Henry def. Masanori Kanehara via TKO (punches) at 0:45 of round 2
Roque Martinez def. Hideki “Shrek” Sekine via TKO (soccer kicks) at 4:04 of round 1
Marcos Yoshio Souza def. Falco Neto via TKO (punches) at 1:27 of round 1
Kintaro def. Kenji Kato via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:21 of round 1
Roberto Satoshi Souza def. Team Nakai (Yuna Kimura, Koji Shigemizu, Edison Kagohara, Hiroshi Shinagawa, and Yuki Nakai) via submission in 8:04 in a 10-minute time limit elimination gauntlet grappling match
Naoki Inoue def. Trent Girdham via unanimous decision
Vugar Kyaramov def. Kyle Agunon via unanimous decision
(Kickboxing) Kousuke Jitukata def. Ryo Sakai via knockout (punches) at 1:28 of round 1
(Kickboxing) Kenichi Takeuchi def. Naoya via unanimous decision
(Kickboxing) Henrry Cejas def. Seido via unanimous decision
(Kickboxing) Yuya def. Yuki via knockout (punch) at 2:30 of round 1
(Kickboxing) Masaji Tozuka & Masahiro Ozawa went to a majority draw
If you want to see how MMASucka’s staff did when it came to picks, go here.
