RIZIN FF announces details on Bantam Weight GP

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TheEmperorRises

TheEmperorRises

Right click hospital, left click cemetery
Dec 4, 2015
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RIZIN’s World GP series has become part of its staple concepts ever since their launch in 2015. King Mo was crowned the winner of the monumental -100kg GP in 2015. Mirko Crocop won the Openweight GP last year by finishing all 4 opponents. Now in 2017, RIZIN will be holding its World GP at Bantamweight (-61kg).

TOKYO – On May 24th, RIZIN FF announced details about this year’s World GP structure. The opening rounds of the 14 man tournament with 2 wild card slots for the Quarter Finals, will be executed over the course of 2 events – 3 fights for Bracket A on July 30th, and 3 fights for Bracket B in October. The total of 6 winners from the opening round plus the 2 wild card fighters who get the buy, will once gather on December 29th for the quarter finals. The winner of the GP will earn 15,000,000 Japanese yen, Second place with 3,000,000 Japanese yen and Third place at 1,000,000 Japanese yen. “We are excited to be able to have several Japanese champions participating in the GP” said Chairman Nobuyuki Sakakibara. “We weren’t able reach out to Japanese promotions for the bigger fighters since very few of them are active, but with at this weight class, there are tons on talent, and this will be a great way for these champions to test themselves against international opponents.”

Former UFC title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi (9-2) shocked the MMA world when he announced his departure from the UFC to participate in the promotion in his home country. The former Shooto world champion dominated his promotional debut against Japan’s top flyweight Yuki Motoya, showing that he has no competition at the Flyweight division. His opponent Hideo Tokoro (34-29-2) is the Japanese fan favorite who is coming off of a beautiful submission win in just 79 seconds. The seasoned veteran has fought in various promotions throughout the world and is looking to make his last challenge in winning the biggest title in his career.

Anthony Birchak (13-4) is another fighter who has chosen to part ways with the UFC and join the Japanese based promotion. Even though he had a bitter promotional debut by coming up short against Tatsuya Kawajiri in a Featherweight bout, RIZIN brass thought the former MFC champion has performed well enough to give him a spot in the World GP. DEEP Bantamweight champion Takafumi Otsuka (22-13-2) just defended his title to earn himself the spot in the GP to represent his organization. The veteran has excellent wrestling along with great conditioning which brings a high paced fight and has not lost for the last 2 and a half years.

Shooto Pacific rim champion Keita Ishibashi (8-5-2) has had a rough road to earn himself this opportunity to represent his organization. The submission specialist went 1-4 after making his professional debut, but after fully committing himself to the sport and making adjustments in his training, he has turned his career around with an impressive 7-1-2 record with all wins coming by submission. The current Fair FC Bantamweight champion Khalid Taha (10-0) is one of the top prospects coming out of both Germany and Europe. The undefeated 24 year old has 6 KO victory wins which proves that he has the knockout power and is a threat to anybody in his division.

4 fights outside of the GP were announced featuring rising prospect Reina Miura AKA King Reina (4-0) taking on woman’s pro wrestling star Seini Draughn AKA Lei’D Tapa (0-1) at 88kg. A 70kg battle between Satoru Kitaoka (40-14-9) and Yusuke Yachi (17-6) will be fighting a style vs style matchup. Both fighters are coming off of wins against UFC veteran Daron Cruickshank. A true pioneer for woman’s Japanese wrestling Miyuu Yamamoto (0-2) will be looking to make her first promotional win against striker Cassie Robb (2-4) who has been training at with Rose Namajunas in Denver CO at 49kgs.

Kickboxing Phenom Tenshin Nasukawa (3-0 MMA / 19-0 kickboxing) and the Karate prince Kizaemon Saiga (3-3 MMA / 15-6 kickboxing) have agreed to face off in July 30th. Weight and rules are yet to be determined.

Full story here:
RIZIN FF ANNOUNCES DETAILS ON BANTAM WEIGHT GP Horiguchi gets Tokoro for the opening round. Birchak faces DEEP champion.
 
ECC170

ECC170

Monster's 11,ATM 2,Parlay Challenge,Hero GP Champ
Pro Fighter
Jan 23, 2015
14,376
23,677
TheEmperorRises said:



RIZIN’s World GP series has become part of its staple concepts ever since their launch in 2015. King Mo was crowned the winner of the monumental -100kg GP in 2015. Mirko Crocop won the Openweight GP last year by finishing all 4 opponents. Now in 2017, RIZIN will be holding its World GP at Bantamweight (-61kg).

TOKYO – On May 24th, RIZIN FF announced details about this year’s World GP structure. The opening rounds of the 14 man tournament with 2 wild card slots for the Quarter Finals, will be executed over the course of 2 events – 3 fights for Bracket A on July 30th, and 3 fights for Bracket B in October. The total of 6 winners from the opening round plus the 2 wild card fighters who get the buy, will once gather on December 29th for the quarter finals. The winner of the GP will earn 15,000,000 Japanese yen, Second place with 3,000,000 Japanese yen and Third place at 1,000,000 Japanese yen. “We are excited to be able to have several Japanese champions participating in the GP” said Chairman Nobuyuki Sakakibara. “We weren’t able reach out to Japanese promotions for the bigger fighters since very few of them are active, but with at this weight class, there are tons on talent, and this will be a great way for these champions to test themselves against international opponents.”

Former UFC title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi (9-2) shocked the MMA world when he announced his departure from the UFC to participate in the promotion in his home country. The former Shooto world champion dominated his promotional debut against Japan’s top flyweight Yuki Motoya, showing that he has no competition at the Flyweight division. His opponent Hideo Tokoro (34-29-2) is the Japanese fan favorite who is coming off of a beautiful submission win in just 79 seconds. The seasoned veteran has fought in various promotions throughout the world and is looking to make his last challenge in winning the biggest title in his career.

Anthony Birchak (13-4) is another fighter who has chosen to part ways with the UFC and join the Japanese based promotion. Even though he had a bitter promotional debut by coming up short against Tatsuya Kawajiri in a Featherweight bout, RIZIN brass thought the former MFC champion has performed well enough to give him a spot in the World GP. DEEP Bantamweight champion Takafumi Otsuka (22-13-2) just defended his title to earn himself the spot in the GP to represent his organization. The veteran has excellent wrestling along with great conditioning which brings a high paced fight and has not lost for the last 2 and a half years.

Shooto Pacific rim champion Keita Ishibashi (8-5-2) has had a rough road to earn himself this opportunity to represent his organization. The submission specialist went 1-4 after making his professional debut, but after fully committing himself to the sport and making adjustments in his training, he has turned his career around with an impressive 7-1-2 record with all wins coming by submission. The current Fair FC Bantamweight champion Khalid Taha (10-0) is one of the top prospects coming out of both Germany and Europe. The undefeated 24 year old has 6 KO victory wins which proves that he has the knockout power and is a threat to anybody in his division.

4 fights outside of the GP were announced featuring rising prospect Reina Miura AKA King Reina (4-0) taking on woman’s pro wrestling star Seini Draughn AKA Lei’D Tapa (0-1) at 88kg. A 70kg battle between Satoru Kitaoka (40-14-9) and Yusuke Yachi (17-6) will be fighting a style vs style matchup. Both fighters are coming off of wins against UFC veteran Daron Cruickshank. A true pioneer for woman’s Japanese wrestling Miyuu Yamamoto (0-2) will be looking to make her first promotional win against striker Cassie Robb (2-4) who has been training at with Rose Namajunas in Denver CO at 49kgs.

Kickboxing Phenom Tenshin Nasukawa (3-0 MMA / 19-0 kickboxing) and the Karate prince Kizaemon Saiga (3-3 MMA / 15-6 kickboxing) have agreed to face off in July 30th. Weight and rules are yet to be determined.

Full story here:
RIZIN FF ANNOUNCES DETAILS ON BANTAM WEIGHT GP Horiguchi gets Tokoro for the opening round. Birchak faces DEEP champion.
Click to expand...
Did you see this?
 
regular john

regular john

Muay Thai World Champion
May 21, 2015
5,043
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ECC170 said:
Did you see this?
Click to expand...
This was some legit mind blowing shit. A legendary performance from Tenshin, it was a perfect storm going his way and I doubt it would ever play out like this again if they fought a thousand times. I think it was the only time ever a thai got KOed like that against a foreigner under full thai rules.

Like every Lawrence Kenshin video though, description is misleading and slightly retarded. Wanchalong was not a Lumpini champion at the time of this fight and nowhere near his prime. He's 30+ years old which is ancient age in muay thai years.
 
ECC170

ECC170

Monster's 11,ATM 2,Parlay Challenge,Hero GP Champ
Pro Fighter
Jan 23, 2015
14,376
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regular john said:
This was some legit mind blowing shit. A legendary performance from Tenshin, it was a perfect storm going his way and I doubt it would ever play out like this again if they fought a thousand times. I think it was the only time ever a thai got KOed like that against a foreigner under full thai rules.

Like every Lawrence Kenshin video though, description is misleading and slightly retarded. Wanchalong was not a Lumpini champion at the time of this fight and nowhere near his prime. He's 30+ years old which is ancient age in muay thai years.
Click to expand...
Didn't TKZ knock out a Thai champion under Thai rules but was DQ cuz he used a spinning bkfist iirc
 
regular john

regular john

Muay Thai World Champion
May 21, 2015
5,043
6,628
ECC170 said:
Didn't TKZ knock out a Thai champion under Thai rules but was DQ cuz he used a spinning bkfist iirc
Click to expand...
Is TKZ "The Korean Zombie"?
I can't recall this. He certainly didn't KO any of the real high level guys from the time when this could've possibly happened. Maybe it was against some media fabricated "muay thai world champion" or something like a Lion Fight champion or some over the hill out of shape guy like a lot of thais who fight internationally after they retire from the stadiums.

Also the spinning back fist is allowed in muay thai so if it happened like that it can't have been full thai rules.

The closest thing I can recall is Ramon Dekkers vs Coban but Dekkers hit him with a million punch combo and Coban barely went down.
 
ECC170

ECC170

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Pro Fighter
Jan 23, 2015
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regular john said:
Is TKZ "The Korean Zombie"?
I can't recall this. He certainly didn't KO any of the real high level guys from the time when this could've possibly happened. Maybe it was against some media fabricated "muay thai world champion" or something like a Lion Fight champion or some over the hill out of shape guy like a lot of thais who fight internationally after they retire from the stadiums.

Also the spinning back fist is allowed in muay thai so if it happened like that it can't have been full thai rules.

The closest thing I can recall is Ramon Dekkers vs Coban but Dekkers hit him with a million punch combo and Coban barely went down.
Click to expand...

I guess this promotion made Spinning back fists illegal..i knew I wasn't crazy lol.. still a brutal ko over a credible Thai fighter
 
regular john

regular john

Muay Thai World Champion
May 21, 2015
5,043
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ECC170 said:

I guess this promotion made Spinning back fists illegal..i knew I wasn't crazy lol.. still a brutal ko over a credible Thai fighter
Click to expand...
wow that's brutal indeed. I didn't recall ever seeing this. that's kickboxing though - most thais at least mid-level who cross over to kickboxing dominate but still plenty of them have collected losses and a select few KO losses. I meant under muay thai rules, off the top of my head I can only recall two high profile KO losses in all of history.

this is a classic case where misinformation about muay thai allows to spread out distorted news though. you could hype Korean Zombie by saying he KOed a muay thai great in his own game but in fact this is about a decade removed from Pajonsuk's prime and not under his preferred ruleset at all. there is very little information out there about the time when Pajonsuk was fighting in Thailand but as far as I know he fought at muay thai's less competitive weight classes.

still no doubt a great win by the Korean Zombie, it's beyond bullshit this was ruled a DQ. I don't ever recall It's Showtime disallowing spinning back fists, there's no reason to do that actually. my first thought was he connected with the elbow/forearm but it doesn't look like it.
 
ECC170

ECC170

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Jan 23, 2015
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regular john said:
wow that's brutal indeed. I didn't recall ever seeing this. that's kickboxing though - most thais at least mid-level who cross over to kickboxing dominate but still plenty of them have collected losses and a select few KO losses. I meant under muay thai rules, off the top of my head I can only recall two high profile KO losses in all of history.

this is a classic case where misinformation about muay thai allows to spread out distorted news though. you could hype Korean Zombie by saying he KOed a muay thai great in his own game but in fact this is about a decade removed from Pajonsuk's prime and not under his preferred ruleset at all. there is very little information out there about the time when Pajonsuk was fighting in Thailand but as far as I know he fought at muay thai's less competitive weight classes.

still no doubt a great win by the Korean Zombie, it's beyond bullshit this was ruled a DQ. I don't ever recall It's Showtime disallowing spinning back fists, there's no reason to do that actually. my first thought was he connected with the elbow/forearm but it doesn't look like it.
Click to expand...
yea it's fkn BS they called that a DQ..I appreciate the insight on MT cuz that's one of the sports I didn't get much exposure to growing up..wrestling was my fortay
 
Last edited:
regular john

regular john

Muay Thai World Champion
May 21, 2015
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ECC170 said:
That young man is a fkn KILLER.. Tenshin and Pico are the future boys!
Click to expand...
yeah I just wish he'd start fighting legit opponents more often. Rizin is smart to bring him up slowly in MMA but in kickboxing after scoring a legendary KO of Wanchalong he's fought a semi retired former WBC boxing champion - though this was incredibly craft match up that makes him look good to the uninformed - and this sacrificial lamb last weekend.
 
ECC170

ECC170

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Pro Fighter
Jan 23, 2015
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regular john said:
yeah I just wish he'd start fighting legit opponents more often. Rizin is smart to bring him up slowly in MMA but in kickboxing after scoring a legendary KO of Wanchalong he's fought a semi retired former WBC boxing champion - though this was incredibly craft match up that makes him look good to the uninformed - and this sacrificial lamb last weekend.
Click to expand...
Who would you want him to fight in MT AND MMA next?
 
regular john

regular john

Muay Thai World Champion
May 21, 2015
5,043
6,628
ECC170 said:
Who would you want him to fight in MT AND MMA next?
Click to expand...
in MMA I think Rizin should stick to feeding him cans for a while until he develops some grappling skills or match him up with other japanese striking oriented guys like his next opponent Kizaemon Saiga;

in MT his org KNOCKOUT has been bringing along some legit thais so he could fight some of the best guys from around his weight like Prajanchai, Phetdam, a rematch with Wanchalong, or a younger guy who's wrecking shop like Chokdee. if he keeps filling up his frame he would be right around the weight of the cream of the cream of muay thai but the pace of the fights and difference in scoring scriteria from muay thai stadiums to international settings is so overwhelming, it's kind of bizarre to even imagine those matchups;

the most exciting route for him IMO is kickboxing where K-1 Japan and KNOCKOUT could work to put together a match up vs. Takeru who is Japan's most beloved action fighter and fights at 55kg just like Tenshin.
 
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