The Rizin doubleheader weekend concludes tonight. Tonight Rizin 35 will be from the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo, Japan. It will feature 10 MMA matches. Three of them are title matches. Just like yesterday’s Rizin Trigger 3rd, this will be available with English commentary. Let’s look at some of the fights.
The Main Event
Rizin lightweight champion Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza (13-1) will look to continue his reign of terror in the lightweight division and get his win back from Johnny Case (27-7-1). In their first outing in the LW GP, Case won after seemingly injuring Souza’s eye with a punch. Since then Souza climbed up the ladder in Rizin finishing all his opponents. He also seemingly did the impossible which was easily submitting Tofiq Musayev to become the promotion’s inaugural lightweight champion. Though he was been on a two-year layoff, Case took up pro boxing and was successful in that endeavor. Can Souza continue being the face of the lightweight division or will Case come in and make it 2-0 against the submission machine?
Rest of the Card
The last time Ayaka Hamasaki (23-4) had been finished in an MMA match was in 2017. It wasn’t until Rizin 33 last year that the undefeated Seika Izawa (5-0) changed all that. In their non-title match, Izawa caught Hamasaki with a mounted triangle and finished her off with strikes. Izawa is a highly-touted prospect and she will get the opportunity to potentially become the Rizin super atomweight champion. Hamasaki will look to fix that loss and continue to be considered the greatest atomweight of all time.
In the other title match of the night, featherweight champion Juntaro Ushiku (21-8-1) will look to prove that his successful challenge over former champion Yutaka Saito (20-6-2) was not a fluke. Longtime legend Tsuyoshi Kosaka (41-33-2) will be having his final fight against the debuting Mikio Ueda. As well, foreigners Spike Carlyle (13-3) and Rihards Bigis (9-0) make their debuts in Rizin.
If you would like to see our write-up of some of the fight announcements, check it out here.
Rizin 35 is available on Live-Now with English commentary as a single purchase or bundle with Rizin Trigger 3rd.
Rizin 35 Results (Live-Now, 1am EST/10pm PST)
Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza (c) def. Johnny Case to retain the Rizin lightweight championship via submission (triangle armbar) in Round 1
Juntaro Ushiku (c) def. Yutaka Saito via unanimous decision to retain the Rizin featherweight championship
Seika Izawa def. Ayaka Hamasaki via unanimous decision to become the new Rizin super atomweight champion
Tsuyoshi Kosaka def. Mikio Ueda via TKO (strikes) in 2:05 of Round 1
Kanna Asakura def. Sarami via unanimous decision
Spike Carlyle def. Koji Takeda via submission (guillotine choke) in 1:35 of Round 2
Shoma Shibisai def. Rihards Bigis via TKO (elbows) in 1:36 of Round 1
Yuki Motoya def. Alan “Hiro” Yamaniha via unanimous decision
Vugar Karamov def. Taichi Nakajima via submission (triangle choke) in 2:00 of Round 1
Kyle Aguon def. Takahiro Ashida via unanimous decision
