Just a week after Landmark 5 went down in Yoyogi, Rizin 42 went down at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, with 14,930 fans in attendance. While Landmark may have been decision heavy, 42 was anything but boring, with 6 of the 11 MMA fights ending inside the distance. In the co-main event, Bellator fighter Juan Archuleta, who is becoming a familiar sight to the Japanese crowd, defeated Naoki Inoue in what was a back-and-forth grappling affair. They each had their moments but as the fight went on, Juan started to take over and also looked to have hurt Inoue on the feet in the 2nd.
In the main event, Kai Asakura sent Yuki Motoya to the canvas with a beautifully timed knee to the body and in doing so, set up a match between himself and Juan for July, with the title on the line. The location for this fight has yet to be announced. Elsewhere on the card, Buakaw and Anpo entertained the crowd, fighting their way to a draw, Souza proved unable to finish Spike, and Ya-Man successfully made his MMA debut, smashing Miura in the process. It is also worth noting that Majima jumped back into the win column with a rare Von Flue choke.
Erson sheds unrealistic expectations, defeats Ito
When speaking to the media after the fight, Erson talked about no longer trying to be the next Kid Yamamoto and instead being himself. Having she the pressure of these expectations, Erson, who was dropping down in weight, used his athleticism, wrestling, and power to control and dominate Ito throughout the entire three rounds of their match. Erson landed hard GNP and also threw grounded knees when he could, showing a focus that was absent in his last appearance.
With this victory over Ito, who fought in Deep’s flyweight tournament earlier this year, Erson climbs to 4-5 and picks up his biggest win to date. At just 26 years old, it will be interesting to see what this reinvigorated Erson can accomplish. With his mother’s retirement bout scheduled for this December, it seems likely that he’ll be scheduled for that show too.
Ya-man stops Miura’s grappling, smashes with knee
Even though they don’t have allot of MMA experience, Kota Miura and Ya-man both came into Saturday’s bout with a lot of attention. Miura from his earlier fights in Rizin and his famous father and Ya-man from his exciting kickboxing career and his regular appearances on Mikuru Asakura’s popular show, Breaking Down. Despite this being his MMA debut, Ya-man made the most of the opportunity, making his way to the ring surrounded by an army of dancers. Once inside, he showed surprisingly good takedown defense as Miura desperately tried to get the fight to the ground. Eventually, Ya-man caught Miura with a brutal knee and some heavy punches before the ref waved it off.
After the fight, when speaking to the media, Ya-man discussed how exciting it was to win and his intention to keep going with MMA.
Buakaw and Anpo punish each other en route to draw
In the second of two kickboxing bouts, Muay Thai legend Buakaw returned to Japan and took on the former K-1 champion Rukiya Anpo, who was making his promotional debut after having competed in the Match last year. While many expected Anpo, who is 13 years younger, to defeat the 40 year old Buakaw, Buakaw showed that he shouldn’t so easily be written off, using speed and kicks to attack the bigger and taller Japanese fighter throughout the fight. Anpo for his part attacked with heavy punches but it wasn’t enough to convince the judges as all three ruled the fight a draw. Afterwards, a dejected Anpo made his way backstage as Buakaw celebrated like he had won.
Afterwards, when addressing the media, Sakakibara talked about how impressed he was with Buakaw, considering how old he was and that if the fight had been fought under must-rules, he would’ve declared Buakaw the winner.
Souza unable to finish Spike but when decision
As we’ve come to expect, when Spike made his way to the ring in order to face Rizin’s ace-grappler Roberto Satoshi Souza, he did so in style, coming out dressed as All Might from My Hero Academia. As the fight got underway, it became clear that Souza wasn’t interested in striking with Spike, as he repeatedly tried to get the fight to the ground in order to go for submissions, even going as far as to pull guard at one point. In the opening round, as they scrambled, Souza went for an armbar, a triangle, and a guillotine, all of which Spike impressively survived.
The two scrampled again in the second, where Souza went for an armbar and a mounted-triagnle and in the third, Souza went for an arm-triangle but Spike was able to escape and got on Souza’s back, where he rode out the rest of the round and the fight. In the end, the judges awarded the decision to Souza.
Afterwards, when addressing the media, Spike made it clear that he felt he had won the fight, going over how he out struck and spent more time in control on the ground than Souza. He also added that he’d like to face Souza again, with the title on the line.
Archuleta overcomes Inoue, earns title shot
After competing in Rizin for the first time last NYE, Juan Archuleta traveled around Japan, took in the sites, and met with Japanese fans, leading many to believe that he’d be back, or at least that he intended to return and that was the case, as he and Spike became the first Bellator fighters to fight in Rizin for a second time who aren’t named Horiguchi.
Just as Archuleta put on an exciting back-and-forth performance against Kim on NYE, he and Inoue engaged in a highly competitive fight that saw both of them have their moments. Inoue for his part, looked much improved from his last fight against Ougikubo, responding much better to the aggressive wrestling style of Archuleta than some predicted. They both also looked good on the feet, but Archuleta did land a sold punch in the 2nd that seemed to be the turning point in the fight.
With this victory, it was announced that Archuleta will return to Rizin in July to face Kai Asakura for the title. When discussing this matchup he mentioned that he wants it to be over 5 rounds because he doesn’t think Kai can survive 5 rounds with him. When addressing the media afterwards, Inoue mentioned that he’d like to go train some more at Kill Cliff in Florida and that Juan had invited him to come train with him in California.
Asakura crumples Motoya with knee in 3rd
Going into Saturday’s bout, Yuki Motoya was coming off an exciting KO finish and was riding a five-fight winning streak, while Kai was returning to action for the first time since losing to Ougikubo in the bantamweight finals in December of 2021. Kai has also suffered a number of hand injuries in his recent fights, causing some to wonder how his hand would hold up on Saturday. As we all saw, his hand held up just fine and he finished Motoya in the 3rd with a beautiful sequence, hurting Yuki to the body then ultimate finishing him with a knee.
Afterwards, Kai, who was grinning ear-to-ear mentioned that when he was in the U.S., he noticed that a lot of the top fighters do a very detailed analysis of their opponents, watching film all the way to the day of the fight. This was something he hadn’t done before, so he did it for this camp. He also mentioned that both his brother and Elie, his new cornerman that he met at Syndicate, advised him to try to corner Motoya and finish him with a knee, so he had actually been looking for the knee throughout the fight. He also teased that maybe Archuleta wants 5 rounds because he isn’t confident he can beat him in three, but also added that if Sakakibara wanted to make it five, that is fine with him.
Quick Results
- Kai Asakura defeated Yuki Motoya via KO (Knee to body) @ 2:25 of RD 3
- Juan Archuleta defeated Naoki Inoue via UD
- Roberto Satoshi Souza defeated Spike Carlyle via UD
- Buakaw and Rukiya Anpo fight to DRAW (Kickboxing)
- Ya-Man defeated Kota Miura via KO at 3:13 of RD 1
- John Dodson defeated Tatsuki Saomoto via UD
- Kazumasa Majima defeated Takahiro Ashida via SUB (Von FLue Choke) at 4:43 of RD 1
- Ulka Sasaki defeated Boyd Allen via UD
- Viktor Kolesnik defeated Atsushi Kishimoto via TKO @ 2:57 of RD 2
- Erson Yamaoto defeated Yuki Ito via UD
- Takeji Yokoyama defeated Takuya Yamamoto via Sub (Armbar) @ 1:24 of RD 1
- Ramazan Temirov defeated Yuta “Cat” Hamamoto via TKO @ 4:06 of RD 1
- Sota Kimura defeated Yasuhiro Kido via UD (Kickboxing)
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