|
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. 2015 started with Rizin World Grand-Prix 2015: Part 1 - Iza and ended with Rizin World Grand-Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba . It started broadcasting through a television agreement with Fuji Television. Background On September 19, 2015 during Bellator 142 Dynamite 1 event, it was announced that Pride FC co-founder Nobuyuki Sakakibara had signed one of the most successful and famous Heavyweight Fighter in history, 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 Strikefo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hideo Tokoro
Hideo Tokoro (born August 22, 1977) is a Japanese mixed martial artist who last competed in the Bantamweight division. A professional competitor since 2000, Tokoro has also formerly competed for Vale Tudo Japan, ZST, Shooto, Rings and K-1 Hero's. He is notable for holding the record for most weight divisions competed in by a professional MMA fighter, at seven, ranging from flyweight through to heavyweight. Mixed martial arts career Tokoro got his first contact with mixed martial arts in 1999, joining Kenichi Yamamoto's Power of Dream gym. He debuted in Titan Fighting Championship in 2000 and moved to multiple promotions, among them Fighting Network Rings, Shooto, ZST and K-1, the latter of which signed him up for its Hero's MMA promotion. Up to that point, as fighting wasn't enough to make a living, Tokoro had worked part-time as a janitor, an aspect which K-1 promoted heavily in order to show him as a humble, hard-working underdog figure.Snowden, Jonathan. ''MMA Encyclopedia' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2016 In Rizin Fighting Federation
The year 2016 was the second year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2016 started with Rizin Fighting Federation 1. It started broadcasting through a television agreement with Fuji Television. Background On July 16, 2016 Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced at a press conference that Rizin Fighting Federation will host a 16-man openweight tournament September 25 in Tokyo. 2006 Pride Open-Weight Grand Prix Champion Mirko Cro Cop and former PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva to participate in the tournament. This tournament was included Pride FC veterans like Kazuyuki Fujita, Tsuyoshi Kosaka, Heath Herring, Sumo sensation Baruto Kaito, world class wrestler Amir Aliakbari, and Rizin GP 2015 winner King Mo Cro Cop won the championship. List of events Rizin Openweight Grand Prix 2016 bracket 1Jiří Procházka was injured and couldn't participate in the second round of the Grand Prix, and was subsequently replace ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muhammed Lawal
Oklahoma State Cowboys Central Oklahoma Bronchos Muhammed Lawal (born January 11, 1981), also known as "King Mo", is an American professional wrestler and retired mixed martial artist currently signed to Major League Wrestling. As a mixed martial artist, he is a former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and Rizin Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion. Early life Lawal was raised along with his siblings by a single Muslim mother. Growing up Lawal was a fan of professional wrestling and began competing in wrestling at Plano East Senior High School in Plano, Texas. As a junior Lawal won a state title in the Greco-Roman category and also finished as a state runner-up. During his senior season Lawal went undefeated and became a state champion after defeating 171 pound favorite Barrett Lidji. Lawal also competed in football, earning All-District honors as a linebacker during his junior season and as a wide receiver in his senior season. Lawal also let ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anatoly Tokov
Anatoly Aleksandrovich Tokov (russian: Анатолий Александрович Токов ; born 17 February 1990) is a Russian mixed martial artist currently fighting in the middleweight division of Bellator MMA. Tokov has previously fought in promotions such as: M-1 Global, Fight Nights Global, Rizin Fighting Federation and Absolute Championship Berkut where Tokov became the one-time Middleweight champion. As of April 4, 2023, he is #3 in the Bellator Middleweight Rankings. Background Anatoly Tokov was born on February 17, 1990, in the city of Tobolsk, in the Tyumen region to a Russian father and Kabardian mother. From adolescence, the boy liked to watch action films with the participation of Jean Claude Van Damme, Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris, which determined his hobbies in the future. Tokov took the first steps at age 15, enrolling in the hand-to-hand combat section under the guidance of trainer Andrei Mikhailovich Sabarov. Just three years after the start of tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daiki Hata
is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist and the former DEEP Bantamweight Champion. He is also an occasional kickboxer. Mixed martial arts career Japanese career Daiki began his professional MMA career in July 2004 for the Pancrase promotion. Over the next four years, he amassed a record of 8 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw primarily in that promotion. During this time he had a victory over WEC contenders Kenji Osawa. In August 2008, Daiki began fighting for the DEEP promotion. Over the next few years he would also fight for DREAM, K-1, Cage Force, and S-Cup. In April 2013, Daiki defeated Yoshiro Maeda to become the DEEP Bantamweight Champion. He vacated the title Road to UFC: Japan In June 2015, Hata was announced as one of the eight featherweights competing on ''Road to UFC: Japan'', a show in the style of ''The Ultimate Fighter''. He defeated Tatsunao Nagakura in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he lost to Mizuto Hirota by decision. Rizin Fighting Federation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hiroyuki Takaya
Hiroyuki Takaya ( Japanese: 高谷裕之, ''Takaya Hiroyuki'', born June 10, 1977) is a Japanese mixed martial artist currently competing in the Featherweight division. A professional competitor since 2003, Takaya has fought in the WEC, Strikeforce, DREAM, Shooto, K-1 HERO'S, Pancrase, RIZIN, Vale Tudo Japan, and Cage Force. Takaya is the former DREAM Featherweight Champion. He also competed at the Japanese MMA events Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011 and Dynamite!! 2010. Due to his experience in street fighting, Takaya is known as the "Streetfight Bancho". Mixed martial arts career Takaya made his professional debut in the Shooto organization in a fight against Hayate Usul in 2003. After a 9-4-1 record in Shooto, Hero's, and Cage Force including bouts against top mixed martial artists like current Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez, Hero's Lightweight runner up Genki Sudo, and former Hero's Middleweight Champion Gesias Calvancante Takaya made h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valentin Moldavsky
Valentin Igorevich Moldavsky (russian: Валенти́н И́горевич Молда́вский; born 6 February 1992) is a Russian mixed martial artist and combat sambo practitioner. He is currently signed to Bellator MMA, where he is a former interim Bellator Heavyweight Champion. He is also a two-time world and one-time European Sambo Champion in the +100 kg division. As of March 14, 2023, he is #2 in the Bellator Heavyweight Rankings. Biography Moldavsky was born 6 February 1992 in the village of Novopskov in the Luhansk Oblast. He was enrolled at the Luhansk State University of Internal Affairs, working as platoon leader. Sambo In 2018, Moldavsky won the European Sambo Championships in Athens, Greece and the World Sambo Championships in Bucharest, Romania in the +100 kg weight category. He also won the 2020 Russian national Championship, which allowed him to qualify for the 2020 World Sambo Championships in Serbia. He claimed the World Championship in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruno Cappelozza
Bruno Henrique Cappelozza (born May 20, 1989) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently signed to the Professional Fighters League, where he competes in the heavyweight division. He is the 2021 PFL heavyweight world champion. Cappelozza has also competed in MMA promotions Rizin Fighting Federation and Jungle Fight. Early life Cappelozza was born in Jaú, São Paulo, Brazil, where he first began to train in mixed martial arts. He commenced his martial arts journey at the age of 7, participating in disciplines such as karate, judo, and capoeira. Subsequently, he transitioned to Muay Thai, eventually making his debut in MMA. Mixed martial arts career Cappelozza made his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2010, fighting for an MMA team owned by Brazilian soccer team Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, commonly called Corinthians. At Corinithians, Cappelozza trained with former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Anderson Silva. At the onset of the last d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kazushi Sakuraba
is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Champions with Takashi Sugiura. He has also competed in traditional puroresu for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and shoot-style competition for UWFi and Kingdom Pro Wrestling (KPW). He has fought in MMA competition in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride Fighting Championships, Hero's and Dream. He is known as the Gracie Hunter or the Gracie Killer due to his wins over four members of the famed Gracie family: Royler Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, and Royce Gracie. Sakuraba is famous for beating 13 champions of different top MMA organizations; opponents who were often many weight-classes above him. Known for his excellent skills in catch wrestling and unorthodox fighting style, he is considered to be one of the greatest mixed martial art figh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shinya Aoki
is a Japanese mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and grappler currently competing in ONE Championship's and Rizin Fighting Federation's Welterweight division. He also competes in DDT Pro-Wrestling where he is a former three-time DDT Extreme Champion. A professional competitor since 2003, he is noted for being the DREAM Lightweight Champion, former two time ONE Lightweight World Champion, former WAMMA Lightweight Champion and former Shooto Welterweight Champion. Aoki is an A-class Shootist and BJJ black belt, both under his long-term mentor Yuki Nakai, as well as a Black Belt Judoka. As of 2008, Aoki, along with DEEP champion Masakazu Imanari, and Sengoku champion Satoru Kitaoka have founded the "Nippon Top Team" as a group of elite Japanese grapplers competing in MMA. As well as his MMA credentials, Aoki has garnered several submission grappling accolades including two All Japan Jiu-Jitsu Championships, a Japan Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship, a Budo Open Championsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vadim Nemkov
Vadim Aleksandrovich Nemkov (russian: Вадим Александрович Немков; born 20 June 1992) is a Russian professional mixed martial artist and a four-time Combat Sambo World Champion. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division of Bellator, where he is the current Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion. As of May 10, 2022, he was #2 in the Bellator men's pound-for-pound rankings. Nemkov is the younger brother of Viktor Nemkov and is a protégé of the MMA Heavyweight and Sambo master Fedor Emelianenko. He is currently ranked as the #1 Light Heavyweight in the world by Sherdog.com. Background Vadim was born on June 20, 1992. Many sources contain information that he is a native of Belgorod, but this is not at all the case. His family began their life journey in a small village in Kazakhstan, where they lived until 1999, after which he, his brother Viktor and his parents moved to the village of Tomarovka, Belgorod Region. It was here that Nemkov's sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goran Reljić
Goran Reljić (born 20 March 1984) is a Croatian mixed martial artist and bare knuckle boxer. A professional MMA competitor who began his career in 2004 and most recently competed in 2020, he has fought for the UFC, RIZIN, and KSW. He is ranked #7 in the ACA Light Heavyweight rankings. Mixed martial arts career Reljić made his professional MMA debut on April 4, 2004 against Bojan Spalević. Reljić won the fight via submission (armbar) in the first round. His second fight was against Andrej Bregar in Trbovlje, Slovenia. Reljić won the fight via submission (arm-triangle choke). Ultimate Fighting Championship Reljić made his UFC debut at light heavyweight against Wilson Gouveia at ''UFC 84'', where he won in the second round by TKO. He then dropped down to middleweight. His next fight was slated to be at ''UFC 90'' against Thales Leites, but Reljić sustained a serious back injury and was replaced by Drew McFedries. He would not return to active competition for nearly two ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
