Rajabali Shaidullaev continues to dominate the competition in
Rizin. | Rizin FF
Rajabali
Shaidullaev is one of MMA’s most talented fighters outside of
the
UFC. The 25-year-old Kyrgyz warrior kept his unblemished record
intact and easily retained his featherweight title with a
first-round TKO victory in the Rizin
Fighting Federation “Landmark Vol. 13” main event on Sunday in
Fukuoka, Japan.
Shaidullaev (19-0, 7-0 Rizin), who has run into a shortage of
challengers on the Rizin roster, was matched up against striker
Yuta
Kubo (5-3, 1 NC; 5-3, 1 NC Rizin) in a rematch from their first
meeting at the end of 2024. That first fight ended in a TKO triumph
for Shaidullaev, and he captured his Rizin featherweight title four
months later, but it was also the only time in his Rizin career so
far that he was taken into a second round.
Perhaps motivated to make a statement with an even more dominant
victory, Shaidullaev did just that in the rematch. After engaging
in an exchange of leg and body kicks with Kubo during the opening
90 seconds, Shaidullaev took his Japanese foe down against the cage
and kneed him in the head. He trapped Kubo’s arm behind his back
and repeatedly punched his face as Kubo tried in vain to break
free. Shaidullaev postured up and landed a final series of punches
that prompted referee Masato
Fukuda to wave off the one-sided fight at the 4:13 mark of
Round 1.
Whereas victorious fighters typically call out other members of
their promotion’s roster, or defer to the judgment of matchmakers,
Shaidullaev used his post-fight speech as an opportunity to issue a
challenge to UFC and PFL athletes. While a showdown between
Shaidullaev and a UFC fighter seems highly unlikely, PFL has
appeared to be more open to working with other organizations.
Whether Shaidullaev’s next foe comes from outside of Rizin, or in
the form of a rising star like Kyoma
Akimoto, remains to be seen. Shaidullaev is determined to take
on the best in the world, and he seemed to know that his rematch
with Kubo fell short of that goal.
In the co-main event, new bantamweight champion Danny
Sabatello (18-4-1, 4-0 Rizin) successfully defended his title
for the first time against challenger Joji Goto
(19-9, 5-1 Rizin), who was never able to get anything going. Much
like in his title-winning effort on New Year’s Eve, Sabatello was
again positionally dominant tonight but failed to inflict much
damage despite easily controlling Goto on the mat. Sabatello did
attempt a series of rear-naked chokes during the opening round, but
he spent most of the final 10 minutes pinning Goto down on the mat
and landing just enough strikes to avoid being stood up.
Sabatello’s style is anything but fan-friendly, but it is
effective, and he cruised to a unanimous decision victory against
the overmatched Goto.
A featured lightweight bout between Yoshinori
Horie (15-6, 6-3 Rizin) and former Bellator champ Patricky
Freire (25-16, 2-3 Rizin) took a while to heat up, but the
veteran fighters engaged in a close battle that ended with Horie’s
hand raised.
Horie connected with a strong right cross during the opening round
and Freire dropped him with a leg kick. The Brazilian blocked a
Horie head kick and jumped in with a flying knee attempt before the
bell. Horie wobbled Freire with two right hooks in the second
stanza, but he failed to follow up and Freire responded with a
spinning back elbow after recovering. In the final round, Freire
chased after Horie with punches until Horie took his back and
pulled him down to the mat. Freire defended against a rear-naked
choke attempt and rose to his feet, but Horie secured one more
takedown before the final bell. One judge scored the fight 29-28
for Freire, while the remaining two had it 30-27 and 29-28 in favor
of Horie for a close split-decision win.
The main card opened with a would-be featherweight bout between
Kaleo
Meheula (6-4, 1 NC; 0-0, 1 NC Rizin) and Kyohei
Hagiwara (9-11, 1 NC; 8-9, 1 NC Rizin). Unfortunately, Meheula
was not able to make weight, and so he began the fight with a
two-point deduction. More crucially, the bout would be officially
ruled a no contest if Meheula was able to secure a stoppage, and
the Hawaiian did just that.
Hagiwara got off to a good start with kicks to Meheula’s leg and
body, but Meheula responded nicely with some powerful knee strikes
and elbows after trapping Hagiwara in a clinch. Time was called
when Meheula was kicked in the groin, but he was able to continue
and he trapped Hagiwara in another Thai clinch. After unleashing a
series of knees to Hagiwara’s face, the Japanese brawler collapsed
to the mat and the fight was waved off at the 4:50 mark of Round 1.
The official records will not show Meheula as the winner due to his
weight miss, but his wreckage of Hagiwara should easily be enough
to earn him a second chance with Rizin in the future.
A Major Announcement
During the intermission prior to the main card, Seika Izawa
entered the cage and vacated her Rizin FF women’s super atomweight
title. The undefeated 28-year-old announced that she is expecting
her first child with husband Kosuke
Terashima, and will be stepping away from competition, but she
added that she will continue to mentor young female fighters as
part of the ongoing ‘Seika Izawa Challenge’ at her gym and also
stated that she will be returning to reclaim her Rizin championship
in the future.
Earlier on the card, Azizbek
Temirov (6-2, 1-0 Rizin) made opponent Ryuya
Fukuda (26-10-1, 4-2 Rizin) pay for showboating during their
bantamweight matchup and sent an unconscious Fukuda careening to
the canvas with a vicious uppercut. Temirov bloodied Fukuda’s nose
early in the fight and fared well on the feet in the opening round.
Hard punches were exchanged early in the second round, which led to
Fukuda taunting and becoming overconfident. He ducked his head
while throwing a jab and Temirov landed a monster uppercut for a
knockout win at the 1:40 mark of Round 2.
Taio Asahisa made short work of Thai veteran Singphayak in a
featherweight kickboxing bout. Asahisa targeted Singphayak’s
midsection with strikes in the opening minute and then used a
sweeping leg kick to set up a crushing right hand to the body that
dropped Singphayak like a rock and gave Asahisa the impressive
knockout win at the 1:45 mark of Round 1.
Former Rizin title challenger Makoto
Takahashi (22-5-1, 1 NC; 8-4 Rizin) made his case for another
shot at flyweight gold by quickly dispatching Nkazimulo
Zulu (16-9-1, 1-3 Rizin). Takahashi scored a takedown and moved
from half-guard to side control. From there, ‘Shinryu’ set his
sights on Zulu’s right arm. He locked on a kimura and wrenched the
arm far behind Zulu’s back. Zulu held on for as long as he could
before tapping out at the 2:52 mark of the first round.
LFA interim strawweight champion Natalia
Kuziutina (10-1, 1-0 Rizin) dropped down to 108 pounds and
announced herself as a new force in the women’s super atomweight
division by submitting former two-time Rizin champ Ayaka
Hamasaki (26-8, 11-5 Rizin) with a first-round armbar.
Kuziutina secured an early takedown and spent most of the opening
round elbowing Hamasaki’s body and punching her face. She
eventually moved to side control and then used knees to set up a
quick armbar that forced Hamasaki to submit at the 4:55 mark of
Round 1. With Seika Izawa
vacating her super atomweight title, Kuziutina may find herself
competing for the championship in her next Rizin appearance.
Rizin mainstay Kazumasa
Majima (19-6, 5-5 Rizin) spoiled the promotional debut of
former Bellator standout James
Gallagher (13-4, 0-1 Rizin) at featherweight. Excluding
guillotine chokes from Gallagher at the beginning of the first and
second rounds, Majima otherwise controlled the opening 10 minutes
of the fight on the ground. In the final round, he reversed a
takedown and held Gallagher in an arm-triangle choke. Gallagher
escaped once, but Majima adjusted his grip on the choke and
Gallagher was soon unconscious. Majima’s technical submission win
came officially at the 2:35 mark of Round 3.
Nurkhan
Zhumagazy (11-1, 2-0 Rizin) and Tenya
Yoshimura (5-3, 0-1 Rizin) engaged in a competitive bout that
was originally slated to be contested at lightweight. However, due
to Yoshimura weighing in 7.7 pounds over the limit, he incurred a
two-point penalty and that left an easy decision for the judges at
the end of the fight. Yoshimura’s punches had the most force behind
them, but Zhumagazy wisely used his speed advantage throughout the
fight and he landed quick kicks to Yoshimura’s body. Zhumagazy got
a late takedown and threatened with a rear-naked choke, but
Yoshimura made it to the bell. All three judges scored the bout in
favor of Zhumagazy for a unanimous decision win.
Kyohei
Takagi (4-1, 1-0 Rizin) – better known as “Hinotori” – earned
his first Rizin win in impressive fashion by stopping the much more
experienced Ryosuke
Honda (14-8-1, 0-1 Rizin) at flyweight. Takagi wore Honda down
with punches during the opening round and eventually dropped him
with a hard one-two in the final 10 seconds. Honda tried to
recover, but Takagi swarmed on him with follow-up shots to earn a
TKO stoppage at the 4:59 mark of Round 1.
A bantamweight bout between Hyuga
Miyagawa (7-7, 2-0 Rizin) and newcomer Seiya Inoue
(0-1, 0-1 Rizin) predictably ended in a very one-sided unanimous
decision victory for Miyagawa after Inoue had absolutely no answers
for his opponent’s superior grappling. Miyagawa scored takedowns in
all three rounds and racked up control time. Inoue, whose
background is in striking, defended well on the ground but never
mounted any offense of his own. All three judges scored the fight
in favor of Miyagawa.
On the preliminary card, Shun
Okamoto (3-0, 1-0 Rizin) took a two-round unanimous decision
victory over Daiki
Yahiro (7-5, 1-1 Rizin) at flyweight; Tomoaki
Arimatsu (4-2, 1-0 Rizin) stopped Kodai
Yamasaki (10-6, 0-1 Rizin) with punches at the 4:37 mark of
Round 1 at bantamweight; Ryota Oki
(6-5, 1-0 Rizin) prevailed via unanimous decision in his two-round
lightweight bout against Ginji Arai
(3-3, 0-1 Rizin); and Ryusei Imamura opened the card by finishing
Yuki Kurotsuchi with a leg kick at the 58-second mark of Round 2 in
a flyweight kickboxing match.