Celebrating the start of a brand new 12 months by watching MMA fights has been a practice in Japan since Delight FC launched its first New 12 months’s Eve occasion in 2003, and former Delight head Nobuyuki Sakakibara is retaining that custom alive with RIZIN Preventing Federation.
RIZIN closes the 12 months on Dec. 31 with Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Makoto Takahashi for the flyweight title at RIZIN 45, which fits down Dec. 31 on the Saitama Tremendous Area in Saitama. Forward of the occasion, Sakakibara shared with MMA Preventing his prime three favourite New 12 months’s Eve moments as an MMA government.
The 2003 New 12 months’s Eve lineup was headlined by Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and featured stars akin to Royce Gracie, Don Frye, Quinton Jackson, Hayato Sakurai, and plenty of others. That one, nevertheless, didn’t make Sakakibara’s podium.
“I might say the primary one could be the 2006 New 12 months’s Eve as a result of that’s the first New 12 months’s Eve occasion we did with out Fuji tv,” Sakakibara stated. “The complete factor of the problem that we’ve been doing with Fuji tv on New 12 months’s Eve is to ship battle content material to the Japanese individuals on free terrestrial tv in a protracted program. It’s not two hours, it’s only a lengthy program on probably the most aggressive day of the community. Our problem has been persevering with to do it with Fuji tv; 2006 was the primary New 12 months’s Eve with out doing Fuji tv, in order that was undoubtedly a problem and a memorable occasion for me.”
The 2006 New 12 months’s Eve card, Delight Shockwave 2006, was topped by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mark Hunt, with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Josh Barnett within the co-main occasion. Takanori Gomi, Mauricio Rua, Shinya Aoki, and Gilbert Melendez have been victorious that night time.
Delight had many different memorable New 12 months’s Eve nights, just like the Shockwave 2005 present with Wanderlei Silva vs. Ricardo Arona, Takanori Gomi vs. Hayato Sakurai, Dan Henderson vs. Murilo Bustamante, Mark Hunt vs. Mirko Cro Cop, plus Fedor Emelianenko in a freak present match towards “Zuluzinho.” That, nevertheless, didn’t make Sakakibara’s record.
As an alternative, he factors to the doubleheader that kicked off his time with RIZIN in 2015. The primary present within the firm’s historical past went down Dec. 29 of that 12 months, with one other present two days later to conclude a heavyweight grand prix. Jiri Prochazka, Vadim Nemkov, Muhammed Lawal, and Teodoras Aukštuolis superior to the event semifinals on Dec. 31, and “King Mo” knocked out future UFC champion Prochazka to say gold later that night time.
“The truth that Fuji tv was in a position to decide to RIZIN, which had no vital accomplishments or any sort of background on the time, we have been simply beginning,” Sakakibara stated. “It was our first occasion, however but Fuji tv was in a position to decide to us. They didn’t know what to anticipate, besides it was me and my staff doing this occasion. I do imagine that the success that RIZIN is experiencing in the present day is as a result of Fuji tv dedicated to bringing us again into dwell tv. That occasion again in 2015 with each groups, everyone sort of reuniting to place collectively an occasion on New 12 months’s Eve, meaning quite a bit to me as properly.”
A co-promotion between RIZIN and Bellator for the 2022 year-end present completes Sakakibara’s prime three, though it ended with a 5-0 sweep for Bellator on his dwelling turf, as A.J. McKee, Patricio Pitbull, Kyoji Horiguchi, Juan Archuleta, and Gadzhi Rabadanov beat RIZIN’s Roberto Satoshi, Kleber Koike, Hiromasa Ougikubo, Soo Chul Kim, and Koji Takeda.
“It’s a promotion vs. promotion, full-on superfights from prime to backside,” Sakakibara stated. “Having the ability to do such a problem in lately, I really feel it’s undoubtedly some sort of a major accomplishment. We received the hardcore followers to get excited, we received Japanese and other people from everywhere in the world to care about what we do in Japan. This 12 months we don’t have that sort of idea, however with the ability to ship a world-class promotion vs. promotion was undoubtedly a memorable problem.”
Sakakibara is happy for RIZIN 45, the world’s closing MMA occasion of 2023.
“The New 12 months’s Eve occasion is a grand sum of your entire 12 months,” Sakakibara stated. “Many issues occurred within the MMA world this 12 months, lots of stuff occurred in Japan this 12 months. Simply to level one thing out, Japan has been experiencing a brand new sort of fight sport content material referred to as breaking down, which is 60-second just about beginner competitors, however that has been taken off this 12 months. We’re completely satisfied that we’ve been in a position to work with them and introduce their sort of content material over the RIZIN New 12 months’s Eve card as properly.
“Clearly, we’ve been reaching out to numerous teams of people that take pleasure in fight sport content material. Regardless of the extent of competitors, we’ve professional title fights and we’ve fights that fighters are making their MMA debuts. We have now quite a lot of ranges and storylines and the narratives behind every of those occasions, so I’m very completely satisfied that we’re in a position to ship a product that’s nothing just like the UFC, it’s nothing like Bellator, that we are able to cater to a number of teams of people that would benefit from the present general.”
Japanese star Kai Asakura will face Archuleta within the co-main occasion, however the bantamweight belt is now vacant after Archuleta missed weight on Saturday. Asakura shall be topped the brand new champion ought to he win, however Sakakibara stated the promotion not rely upon native stars thriving within the ring as a way to do good numbers in Japan.
“Kai Asakura is unquestionably a key determine within the Japanese MMA scene,” Sakakibara stated. “Clearly, his brother Mikura Asakura, he’s a lot greater, however simply to present you an concept how fashionable these guys are, MMA followers know him, the informal followers know him, the non-MMA followers know him, and a normal sports activities’ fan is aware of about them. That’s how a lot they’re recognized simply generally. With that stated, they’re undoubtedly one of many faces of the Japanese MMA scene together with Horiguchi.
“So far as the battle itself, clearly a win would undoubtedly assist spike his reputation, give him extra credibility when it comes to publicity and whatnot, however at this level, we’ve instructed the story of how he received right here, overcoming accidents and whatnot. The followers are just about all glad with the story, the narrative that we’ve proven already, so it doesn’t actually matter in regards to the outcomes. If he wins, nice, however even when he doesn’t win, we all know how you can inform the story and the followers wish to comply with the story of him in any case. Both manner, win or lose, we are able to concentrate on it and choose up from that and proceed to cater to what the followers wish to see.”