A looming typhoon wasn’t the only problem facing Rizin 36 this weekend. On the 30th, promotional superstar Kai Asakura was forced to withdraw from the main event when he suffered another hand injury. As a result, Ren Hiromoto and Hiroaki Suzuki were promoted to the main event and CEO Sakakibara was forced to offer refunds to anyone who had purchased a ticket. Furthermore, he issued refunds to everyone who had ordered the PPV on Sky Perfect or Rizin StreamPass. This is the first time that Rizin has lost a main event like this, which is why Sakakibara felt the need to issue a refund to keep the fans’ trust. Despite these problems, it’s been reported that only about 1,800 people decided to refund their tickets, with the remaining 7,264 choosing to attend the event. Those that came got to see some fights with divisional consequences, two of which were Saori Oshima vs Miyuu Yamamoto and Moeri Suda vs Nisse.
Moeri Suda wins debut
In the 3rd fight of the night, promotional newcomer Moeri Suda made the most of her opportunity, submitting Nisse in the first round. In a performance reminiscent of her earlier fights with Hikaru Aono and Eru Takebayashi, the soon to be 18 year old aggressively pulled guard and went for armbars until she got the finish. In fact, she has won 4 of her last 6 fights by armbar. Young with an aggressive grappling style, she seems like a likely candidate for Riziin to bring back.
Saori Oshima squeaks past Miyuu
In what can be described as a razor-thin split-decision, Saori Oshima narrowly edged out Miyuu Yamamoto in the co-main event, making her 2-0 in the promotion, with both wins coming over popular fighters. In the opening round, Saori was able to get the better of Miyuu on the ground, where some exciting scrambles took place and Saori attempted a double-wrist lock. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, Miyuu changed up her strategy and generally attempted to avoid fighting on the ground, preferring to strike with her smaller opponent. However, while she did land some good punches, Saori also landed her fair share of strikes and tended to be more aggressive.
Following the fight, Saori addressed the crowd and called for her teammate and friend Miki Motono to also fight in Rizin. For those that don’t know, the two went to college together where they both competed on the Judo team. Afterward, Saori came to one of Miki’s MMA fights and it was there that she got the idea to start training, so she reached out to Miki who directed her to AACC. Since then, they have both become champions in Deep Jewels.
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