This Sunday, Rizin 37 went down at the Saitama Super Arena. The opening round of the Super Atomweight Grand Prix took place, Takeda suplexed his way to victory in his biggest win to date, Sudario made quick work of Shrek, Tokoro impressed in defeat, Yushi showed that Tokyo hosts are tougher than Osaka’s, and Hiroki and Ishizuki proved that kickboxing belongs in Rizin, even after Tenshin.
The good, the bad, and the strange
Despite losing Naoki Inoue, Ulka Sasaki, and Kota Miura, Rizin 37 did alright when it comes to sales, with 11,166 people reported to be in attendance. However, despite the loss of a bout, the event seemed to go longer than normal. With a 2:00 PM start time, the event went past 9:00 PM, meaning that a lot of those in attendance, who probably don’t live in Saitama and had to work the next day, left early. After Takahashi defeated Tokoro, large swathes of the crowd got up to leave, leaving a noticeably bare arena for the last two fights. Then when Izawa submitted Fontoura, almost all of those left got up and hurried out before she even got the mic to address the crowd.
Rizin 37 also played host to some strange occurrences, most notable of which was when a seemingly intoxicated fan started loudly booing during Nakahara and Seki’s match. When security came to speak with him, he got in a scuffle with one of them then refused to leave. He then started dancing and got up to leave, but was intercepted by a large number of police officers.
It is also worth noting that little to no international support was available for this event. Fans primarily ordered the event through Rizin Stream Pass or Rizin Live, but there was some confusion when Rizin’s English Twitter page started posting clips with English commentary. Many of the international fans were frustrated at the lack of notice and still do not know if the English commentary is available.
Seika, Ayaka, Rena, and Si Woo advance
Up front and center at Rizin 37 was the opening round of the Super Atomweight Grand Prix. Both Hamasaki and Rena nearly finished their opponents in the first round, but ended up grinding out decisions. Rena’s opponent, Anastasiya, recovered quickly from getting dropped and managed to land some good strikes herself, making a good impression in what was only her third pro-fight. Aguilar looked at her best on the ground, working from her guard, but she was never really able to mount and significant offense and the fight ended with Hamasaki in full mount landing ground and pound while setting up an armbar.
In perhaps the most dominant performance of opening round, Park completely shut down Asakura’s wrestling en route to a dominant decision victory. For most of the fight, Park took a cautious approach, landing strikes and avoiding takedowns, but as the fight went on and she became more confident, she opened up more and even took Asakura down and went for an armbar. Near the end of the 3rd round, Park started to open up with her strikes and stunned Asakura several times with her combinations. Either as the bell rang or just after it rang to end the fight, Park landed a high kick that dropped an exhausted Asakura.
In the main event, Izawa survived an early scare when Fontoura used her long legs to lock on a triangle choke. After several minutes in the position, the champion escaped and almost immediately set up the guillotine choke that ended the fight. With this win, Izawa was got the only finish in the Grand Prix and looks to be a heavy favorite going forward. Speaking of which, based off of comments made by Sakakibara, Izawa, and Rena, it looks like the likely matchups in the semi-finals will be Izawa vs Rena and Hamasaki vs Park, meaning Izawa will have a rematch in the finals no matter who wins, assuming she beats Rena.
The Next Rizin
During the intermission, Mikuru Asakura announced that his bout with Mayweather is scheduled for September 25th. Sakakibara later elaborated that the event will be organized into two events, one called “Super Rizin” that will feature 5 fights and will be geared towards the international audience and one called “Rizin 38” that will feature 9 fights and will likely be geared towards the Japanese audience. The events will take place at the Saitama Super Arena and will feature Mikuru vs Mayweather, the semi-finals of the Super Atomweight Grand Prix, and a title match. Sakakibara also spoke about Mikuru’s success with breaking down and how he wants to learn from their success, especially with how they handled pre-event promotion.
Results
- Seika Izawa def. Laura Fontoura via Submission (Guillotine Choke), 3:47 of RD 1
- Ayaka Hamasaki def. Jessica Aguilar via UD
- Makoto Takahashi def. Hideo Tokoro via UD
- Koji Takeda def. Johnny Case via UD
- Si Woo Park def. Kanna Asakura via UD
- Rena def. Anastasiya Svetkivska via UD
- Sudario def. Hideki Sekine via KO (Left hook), 0:53 of RD 1
- Yuki Motoya def. Shinobu Ota via UD
- Yoshiki Nakahara def. Tetsuya Seki via UD
- Daichi Abe def. Marcos Souza via KO (Right punch), 3:02 of RD 2
- Vugar Karamov def. Sora Yamamoto via UD
- Ryusei def. Kaishi via TKO (Referee Stoppage), 1:23 of RD 3 (Kickboxing Rules)
- Hiroki Kasahara def. Yusaku Ishizuki via UD (Kickboxing Rules)
- Yushi def. Haruki via Submission (RNC), 0:43 of RD 2
Japanese 
English