On the preliminary card,
Seika Izawa
(9-0, 5-0 Rizin) eked out a narrow split decision over long-time
rival
Si Woo Park
(9-5, 3-1 Rizin) in the super atomweight grand prix final;
135-pound talent
Naoki Inoue
(16-3, 6-1 Rizin) forced
Kenta
Takizawa (13-9, 3-5 Rizin) to tap due to a modified keylock at
3:53 of Round 2;
Junior Tafa
(4-0, 1-0 Rizin) battered fellow heavyweight prospect
Tsuyoshi
Kamiyama (6-2, 6-2 Rizin) with punches at 1:38 of the opening
frame; former UFC flyweight title challenger
John Dodson
(23-13, 1-0 Rizin) finished
Hideo Tokoro
(35-32-1, 3-4 Rizin) with punches at the 1:43 mark of Round 1; the
custom-rules boxing clash between
Ren
Hiramoto and Genji Umeno ended in a draw even though Hiramoto
knocked his opponent out in the last second of the second frame;
Yuki
Motoya (33-9, 1 NC; 10-5, 1 NC Rizin) crushed former UFC
135-pounder
Rogerio
Bontorin (16-5, 2 NC; 0-1 Rizin) with a knee 2:56 into the
second stanza; UFC alum
Johnny Case
(28-9-1, 4-3 Rizin) wobbled and finsihed last-minute replacement
Nobumitsu
Osawa (14-7, 0-2 Rizin) 36 seconds into their lightweight tilt;
rising featherweight star
Chihiro
Suzuki (10-3, 5-1 Rizin) demolished
Yoshiki
Nakahara (17-6, 2-1 Rizin) with punches at the 4:44 mark of
Round 1; 155-pounder
Sho
Patrick Usami (6-1, 2-0 Rizin) flattened former Rise kickboxing
welterweight titleholder
Noah Bey (1-3,
1-3 Rizin) 45 seconds out of the gate and
Yushi
Sakura (3-1, 3-1 Rizin) outgrappled
Tatsuya
Nakazawa (1-1, 0-1 Rizin) en route to a unanimous decision
victory in a 137-pound catchweight affair.