Didn't catch day 1 but sat for most of day 2 of Rizin
Jumped on at about Hasegawa v Ward, so I missed the HW tournament semis (a decisions and a retirement) and the opening women's bout - though I saw the highlights of Rena's beautiful flying armbar finish.
Gabi Garcia v Lei'D Tapa was scary for so many reasons. Firstly, Garcia is 216lb and looks like Pete Steele. Which explains why TNA Wrestling alum Tapa is probably one of the few people on the planet they can get to fight here as she weighed in at about 205lb. Secondly, this fight was UGLY. I've seen better stand up from women on Worldstar Hip Hop. Both got tagged, first Garcia went down, but survived, then Tapa got tagged by a backfist (and not a premeditated one, one that followed through after a whiffed haymaker), where Garcia followed to the ground, sat on her, held Tapa's face with one hand and tapped it with the other until the ref stopped the fight.
Akebono v Sapp wasn't much better sadly, but for different reasons. Akebono got a bad cut in the first round, on the side of the head, which they kept stopping the fight to tend to. There's reports of Stitch at ringside saying its nicked a vessel and there's no way they were ever stopping the flow. But alas they made it out of the first round. But heading in the second Sapp got carded for punching the back of the head, even though Akebono caused it by cowering and turning as the punches came in. Nevertheless the second rounded never got far as they stopped yet again to tend to Akebono's head and eventually called it off. Sapp got the win based on the first round judging.
Baruto v Aerts was... suitably bizarre. Aerts is old and shop worn, guy walks like The Great Khali... he's also only 216lbs. Baruto is a 400lb Estonian Sumo wrestler. And this was an MMA rules fight (though only 3 x 3 min rounds). Fight basically involved Aerts trying to kickbox, Baruto bullrushing, Aerts backing up in the straight line, getting caught in the clinch, and then Baruto using his bulk to fall on top of Aerts. To Baruto's credit at the end of the first, it looked like he was working a north-south choke. In the second, Aerts managed to end up on top, getting Baruto's back and trying to twist his head off, to no avail. By the 3rd Aerts was gassed after being smothered for 10 mins by Baruto's bitch tits, and proceeded to spend another 3 in the same predicament. Baruto got the nod.
After the circus sideshow it was onto the best two fights of the night;
Andy Souwer v
Yuichiro Nagashima was interesting for having two guys who come from kickboxing, both K-1 veterans (K-1 level striking Joe!), taking each other on in an MMA fight. That said Souwer is a Shoot Boxing champ as well, where they allow standing grappling and submissions. An entertaining back and forth scrap, but then Souwer got scary when he had the dominant position on the ground, landing a flush knee that had Nagashima spitting up a tooth. Souwer then took advantage when Nagashima scrambled to his feet, unloading combos and hamming the body until Nagashima flopped over and the ref stopped it. Souwer is only 33, so I wouldn't mind seeing him in a few more MMA bouts.
Then came Kron Gracie - son of Rickson - taking on Asen Yamamoto - nephew of Kid. BJJ v Wrestling. As game as Asen was - and he showed to terrific resilience and ability escaping from many of Kron's submission attempts - Kron was just too good. Asen ended up in a triangle which he tried to powerbomb his way out of, which almost never works unless you're Rampage Jackson, ultimately making it worse and finally tapping.
Then came what we were all waiting for
Look there's no two ways around, you have middling kickiboxer Singh Jaideep with his 2-0 MMA record facing one of the most heralded heavyweights in MMA history with 39 fights experience. Barring a hail mary there was only one way this was going to go.
That said, Fedor still has some of the most downright scary ground and pound in MMA. It wasn't Heath Herring, but at times it was close. Great to see the big man back.
Then the stream I was watching - a legit stream from Russian public broadcaster Match TV - decided to cross over to the World Jr Ice Hockey championships, because you know, once Fedor is done, we're done.
So I missed the HW tournament final.
And here it is
All in all, a fun event, that gives me a sliver of hope that big time JMMA is coming back.