2015 in Rizin Fighting Federation

The year 2015 was the first year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. Only two events were held this year, both consisting of the Rizin World Grand-Prix 2015. Rizin events are broadcast through a television agreement with Fuji Television.

2015 in Rizin Fighting Federation
Information
First date	December 29
Last date	December 31
Events
Total events	2
Fights
Chronology
N/A 2015 in Rizin Fighting Federation 2016 in Rizin Fighting Federation

Background

On September 19, 2015 during Bellator 142 Dynamite 1 event, it was announced that Pride FC co-founder Nobuyuki Sakakibara had signed former Pride Heavyweight Champion The Last Emperor Fedor Emelianenko to headline his new promotion’s New Year’s Eve Show in Tokyo.

On October 8, 2015 The former President of Pride FC, Sakakibara held a press conference to announce his return to MMA with Rizin Fighting Federation.

Sakakibara returned to mainstream MMA, along with Nobuhiko Takada and other former Pride FC employees.

Rizin partnered with Bellator MMA to allow former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal to compete the Rizin's inaugural grand prix. Eventually, King Mo won the 8 man Heavyweight tournament with a prize of $300,000.

List of events

#	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
1	Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba	December 29, 2015	Saitama Super Arena	Saitama, Japan	12,214
2	Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 2 - Iza	December 31, 2015	Saitama Super Arena	Saitama, Japan	18,365

100 Kg Heavyweight Grand-Prix bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

Muhammed Lawal

KO

Brett McDermott

1r.

Muhammed Lawal

DEC

Teodoras Aukštuolis

3r.

Teodoras Aukštuolis

KO

Bruno Cappelozza

1r.

Muhammed Lawal

KO

Jiří Procházka

1r.

Satoshi Ishii

1r.

Jiří Procházka

KO

Jiří Procházka

TKO

Vadim Nemkov

1r.

Goran Reljić

1r.

Vadim Nemkov

KO

Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba

Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba
Promotion	Rizin Fighting Federation
Date	December 29, 2015
Venue	Saitama Super Arena
City	Saitama, Japan
Event chronology
Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 2 - Iza

Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba was an inaugural mixed martial arts event held by the Rizin Fighting Federation on December 29, 2015 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Results

Fight Card
Weight Class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Welterweight 77 kg	Shinya Aoki	def.	Kazushi Sakuraba	TKO (Corner Stoppage)	1	5:56
Grand-Prix 100 kg	Jiří Procházka	def.	Satoshi Ishii	KO (Knees)	1	1:36	RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Quarter-Finals
Grand-Prix 100 kg	Vadim Nemkov	def.	Goran Reljić	KO (Punches)	1	2:58	RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Quarter-Finals
Grand-Prix 100 kg	Teodoras Aukštuolis	def.	Bruno Cappelozza	KO (Punches)	1	4:32	RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Quarter-Finals
Grand-Prix 100 kg	Muhammed Lawal	def.	Brett McDermott	KO (Punches)	1	9:10	RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Quarter-Finals
Grand-Prix 100 kg	Valentin Moldavsky	def.	Yuta Uchida	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	1	2:20	RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Reserve Fight
Featherweight 66 kg	Hiroyuki Takaya	def.	Daiki Hata	Decision (Unanimous)	3	20:00
Bantamweight 61 kg	Hideo Tokoro	def.	Kizaemon Saiga	Submission (Armbar)	1	5:16
Middleweight 84 kg	Anatoly Tokov	def.	A.J. Matthews	TKO (Punches)	1	0:55
K-1 Lightweight 70 kg	Hinata	def.	Kazuyuki Miyata	TKO (3 knockdowns)	1	2:14
K-1 Featherweight 66 kg	Hiroya	def.	Akiyo Nishiura	KO (Punches)	3	7:20
Flyweight 57 kg	Felipe Efrain	def.	Yuki Motoya	No Contest	1	5:45	Originally a 1st round TKO win by Efrain. Ends in a No Contest, Efrain Missed Weight.
Heavyweight 120 kg	Kirill Sidelnikov	def.	Carlos Toyota	TKO (Punches)	1	2:23
Heavyweight 120 kg	Tsuyoshi Kosaka	def.	James Thompson	TKO (Punches)	2	11:58

Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 2 - Iza

Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 2 - Iza
Promotion	Rizin Fighting Federation
Date	December 31, 2015
Venue	Saitama Super Arena
City	Saitama, Japan
Event chronology
Rizin World Grand-Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 2 - Iza Rizin Fighting Federation 1

Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 2 - Iza was a mixed martial arts event held by the Rizin Fighting Federation on December 31, 2015 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Results

Fight Card
Weight Class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Grand-Prix 100 kg	Muhammed Lawal	def.	Jiří Procházka	KO (Punches)	1	5:09	RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Final
Heavyweight 120 kg	Fedor Emelianenko	def.	Singh Jaideep	TKO（Punches）	1	3:02
Featherweight 66 kg	Kron Gracie	def.	Erson Yamamoto	Submission (Triangle Choke)	1	4:58
Catchweight 72.5 kg	Andy Souwer	def.	Yuichiro Nagashima	KO (Punches)	1	5:28
Openweight	Baruto Kaito	def.	Peter Aerts	Decision (Unanimous)	3	9:00
Shootboxing 100+ kg	Bob Sapp	def.	Akebono Tarō	Decision (Unanimous)	3	15:00
Female Light Heavyweight 93 kg	Gabrielle Garcia	def.	Lei'D Tapa	TKO (Referee Stopage)	1	2:36
K-1 Flyweight 57 kg	Takeru	def.	Yang Ming	TKO (Referee Stopage)	2	6:00
Bantamweight 61 kg	Soo Chul Kim	def.	Maike Linhares	Decision (Unanimous)	3	20:00
Catchweight 81 kg	Brennan Ward	def.	Ken Hasegawa	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	2	11:52
Grand-Prix 100 kg	Jiří Procházka	def.	Vadim Nemkov	TKO (Retirement)	1	10:00	RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Semi-Finals
Grand-Prix 100 kg	Muhammed Lawal	def.	Teodoras Aukštuolis	Decision (Unanimous)	2	15:00	RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Semi-Finals
Female Strawweight 52 kg	Rena Kubota	def.	Jleana Valentino	Submission (Armbar)	2	8:31

External links

• http://www.rizinff.com/en/
• http://www.tapology.com/search?term=rizin&mainSearchFilter=events