Rizin 31: Results, Reaction, and Numbers -

With close to 5,000 people in attendance, Rizin 31 went down this Sunday in Yokohama, Japan. While on paper, some thought the card lacked some star power, the event delivered a ton of excitement, with only 2 fights going to the judges. This is in stark contrast to RIzin 30, where 8 of the 10 fights went the distance. The event also featured 12 fighters who made their promotional debuts, including the now champion Juntaro Ushiku and Saori Oshima.

After the event, Sakakibara commented, “This was a really good event. We didn’t have a big name like Tenshin or Kyoji, but we found future talent for Rizin today. There was also a big contrast between the winners and losers. Saito’s loss shows that one shot can be scary and now I’m interested in a featherweight grand prix since the division is in chaos.”

Nakamura setting up the armbar, mid-slam

6 TKO/KO’s, 3 submissions, and 2 decisions

If Rizin 31 lacked the names of some of the earlier events this year, it made up for it entertainment, with only 2 fights going to decision and one of those was a very exciting match in itself. With so many exciting bouts, it is difficult to decide who stood out, but some clear standouts were Sudario, Oshima, Kanehara, and Daisuke. Sudario is no longer fighting pro-wrestlers and is getting access to high level training. While it was clear that Saint, who made his pro-debut in June, is new to the sport, his size and age made him an interesting opponent, especially considering he came from within Japan. With Sudario taking little damage, he could be back in action relatively quickly. Especially now that COVID-19 numbers are going down and foreign talent may become available.

Kanehara turned back the wheels of time and despite only competing twice since 2018, looked very solid. Even though he has spent his most recent years grappling, he hurt Ashida badly with body shots and got a memorable knockout on a night filled with them. If he is serious about returning to action, the 38 year old makes an interesting addition to Rizin’s already full featherweight division.

In a a somewhat hilarious twist of fate, the 41 year old Daisuke Nakamura got his 15th armbar victory on a card headlined by a guy he KO’d earlier this year and another guy he submitted in a grappling match in 2019. Matching him up with a 12-10 opponent was fun and allowed for the veteran to shine. If they keep him around, hopefully they will continue to find fun matchups for him.

Super Atomweight just got more interesting

One of the divisions that has struggled the most during the pandemic has been Super Atomweight. Like Heavyweight, Rizin depends a lot on foreign talent to bolster this division and with the inability to do so, it has slowed down significantly. However, almost as if they anticipated this future need, promotions like Deep and Pancrase have been working hard to develop young talent, ranging from Seika Izawa, Miki Motono, and Aya Murakami in Deep to Karen and Nori Pravajra in Pancrase. One of these young fighters, is Saori Oshima, a former judoka, who with less than 2 years in MMA just defeated the former Rizin champion in a high-paced exciting fight. With this win, new local talent has been injected into a division, that outside of Kanna Asakura, is filled with older talent, a number of whom have already hinted at their coming retirement.

Outside of Rizin, but still related to the division’s future, Deep 104 went down the day before Rizin 31 and Seika Izawa and Si Woo Park both put on impressive performances in their bout. Combined with other worthy fighters like Hikaru Aono and the already debuting Nisse, Rizin now has access to enough Super Atomweights to get the division back up and going again, even without foreign talent.

Featherweight Division

In line with the Eminem curse now is the being the sole fighter on a Rizin poster curse, which only Mikuru has survived. Going into the event, it was clear that Saito was getting some push by the promotion and his support was growing. During the fight, he was looking good, throwing some solid body punches but as Sakakibara said, one shot can be scary. Ushiku landed a flying knee that opened a deep cut in a bad spot and that was all she wrote. Now, Ushiku, who made his promotional debut with this fight, is the featherweight champion. With this win, the division has been flipped on its head and a grand-prix, as Sakakibara suggested, seems like a good way to organize it. With that being said, Ushiku may fight Mikuru, Koike, or Saito next, if the promotion wants to keep the division busy.