Rizin Fighting Federation

Rizin Fighting Federation (Rizin FF or Rizin) is a Japanese mixed martial arts organization created in 2015 by the former Pride Fighting Championships and Dream Stage Entertainment president Nobuyuki Sakakibara.

Rizin was founded to be the spiritual successor of Pride FC and DREAM, the organization carries much of the philosophy and ambition of its two predecessors: its events are promoted as larger-than-life events with elaborate opening ceremonies and fighter entrances, its matches are fought in a roped ring and it has a more permissive ruleset compared to the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, inherited from Pride and DREAM. The organization also promotes "Grand Prix", single-elimination tournaments where fighters have to fight multiple opponents in the same night. Rizin is considered Japan's top MMA promotion.

Rizin has also promoted kickboxing matches, with two "Grand Prix" tournaments in 2017 and 2021.

The promotion's name is a combination of "Raijin", the Japanese god of lightning; the word "rising", meaning "to prosper and thrive"; and the letter, 'Z', meaning "ultimate".

History

In 1997, PRIDE Fighting Championships was founded in Japan, promoted by Dream Stage Entertainment. The organization quickly rose up to become the world's most popular MMA promotion and helped to popularize the sport in Japan and in the world. Its events were broadcast to millions through free-to-air and pay-per-view television, and it filled sport stadiums with hundreds of thousands of spectators. PRIDE differentiated itself from the UFC with its focus on spectacle and entertainment, as well a more permissive ruleset. By 2007, however, Pride closed its doors due a scandal showing its ties to the Yakuza causing a financial crisis in the company. DSE was bought by Zuffa—UFC's holding company—which initially promised to keep the event running, but eventually cancelled the plans, laid off most of the staff and just absorbed Pride's best fighters. As a response, most of DSE's former staff, fighters and executives joined Fighting and Entertainment Group, the promoters of K-1, to organize a successor, which became known as DREAM. However, FEG eventually had its own financial issues and went bankrupt in 2012, as a result. DREAM was defunct.

Three years after DREAM folded, rumors began circulating that Pride and Dream founder Nobuyuki Sakakibara would return to the industry after an interview with Bellator MMA President Scott Coker was released.

On September 19, 2015 during Bellator MMA & Glory: Dynamite 1, it was announced that Sakakibara had signed former Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko to headline a New Year's Eve Show in Tokyo for his new MMA promotion. Sakakibara held a press conference on October 8, 2015 with Nobuhiko Takada and other former Pride FC employees to formally announce the launch of Rizin Fighting Federation. Initial signees included Kazushi Sakuraba, Shinya Aoki, as well as female competitors Gabi Garcia and RENA.

A Grand Prix tournament was announced (held at 100 kg or roughly 220 lbs), with champions and competitors from Bellator, KSW, Jungle Fight, BAMMA, and King of Kings. Most notably, King Mo was announced to represent Bellator in the tournament. The 8-man bracket was officially finalized on November 30, 2015, with other bouts also being announced shortly thereafter. Kron Gracie (whose father Rickson competed at the inaugural PRIDE event) was announced to participate against Asen Yamamoto. Amongst the veterans in the Japanese scene, Tsuyoshi Kosaka would face James Thompson, and Akebono Tarō would face Bob Sapp.

Initial plans were to do at least four events per year, as opposed to the more frequent scheduling of other promotions, in order to build up the excitement and anticipation. Rizin's presentation is modeled after major sporting events, such as the UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup.

In 2018, it was announced that the main event for the traditional new years eve card ( Rizin 14) was going to be a boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and undefeated Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa. The match ended up with Nasukawa knocked out two minutes into the first round.

In November 11, 2021 Rizin broke the tradition of PRIDE and DREAM by for the first time holding an event in a cage instead of the traditional roped ring at the Rizin Trigger 1st event.

Broadcasting and coverage

Rizin's inaugural event was broadcast in North America on Spike TV. Other broadcasters have included SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, Fuji Television, Fox Sports Brazil, Kix and Match TV. From 2017 to 2019, Rizin events have been streaming on FITE TV in North America and Europe. As of RIZIN 26, they have been streaming on LIVENow. Starting with RIZIN.38, RIZIN returned to FITE.TV.

Weight classes

Rules

The rules in Rizin FF have been adopted from Pride FC with some slight modifications over the years. Like Pride and Dream, Rizin rules highly differ from the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.

Match length

There are three types of matches in Rizin FF:

1. Rizin single matches – These are three rounds in length. Prior to May 2018, the first round spanned ten minutes, while the final two rounds lasted five minutes each. Since then matches have been three rounds of five minutes each.

2. Rizin tournament matches – These are three rounds in length, with each round lasting five minutes.

3. Women's matches – These are three rounds of five minutes each.

Judging criteria

Fights are judged on the following criteria:
* Damage: when assessing damage, both striking and grappling are given the same weight. The judges will place value on the extent to which the effective striking or grappling 'influences the match' - in other words, whether there was such damage/advantage to the fighter which would have led to the fight being ended by the opponent tapping out or being knocked out.
* Aggressiveness: the judges will consider which fighter was more effective in delivering attacks which may end the fight in a finish. Note this element does not take into consideration the actual impact of damage caused by the fighter's strikes, throws or submission. Rather, the judges will place value on whether fighters were aggressive and proactive in their approach during the fight.
* Generalship: the judges will consider which fighter was more effective in dominating the pace, place and position of the fight. Judges will also consider the amount of time spent in a ground position or the standing position.

Although not outlined in the RIZIN rules, scorecards published on the JMOC website suggest that damage, aggressiveness and generalship are scored 50, 30 and 20 points respectively. Where the fighter has not fulfilled the element, they are given a score of zero - there are no in-betweens.

Differences from ''Unified Rules of MMA'' and ''PRIDE''

* All attacks to the head are allowed, regardless of the fighter being grounded or standing up. This includes soccer kicks, knees, and stomps. However, if there is a weight discrepancy of or more, the lighter fighter is allowed to choose if such ground attacks are permitted. Any kicks, knees or stomps on the head of a grounded opponent are considered fouls in the Unified Rules.
*Unlike PRIDE, Rizin FF allows for use of elbow strikes, which are permitted in the Unified Rules. Additionally the 12-6 elbow, illegal under the Unified Rules, is legal in the Rizin FF ruleset.

List of Rizin FF events

Current champions

Championship history

Light Heavyweight Championship

:Weight limit:

Lightweight Championship

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Featherweight Championship

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Bantamweight Championship

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Women's Super Atomweight Championship

:Weight limit:

Grand-Prix Champions

MMA

Kickboxing

Records

Most wins in title bouts

Most consecutive title defenses

Champions by nationality

The division champions include only linear and true champions. Interim champions who have never become linear champions will be listed as interim champions. Fighters with multiple title reigns in a specific division will also be counted once. Runners-up are not included in tournaments champions.

Notable fighters

* Floyd Mayweather Jr.
* Goran Reljić
* Mirko Filipović
* Jarred Brooks
* Bob Sapp
* Muhammed Lawal
* Tenshin Nasukawa
* Kyoji Horiguchi
* Kai Asakura
* Victor Henry
* Shintaro Ishiwatari
* Naoki Inoue
* Hiromasa Ougikubo
* Takafumi Otsuka
* Ulka Sasaki
* Shoji
* Justin Scoggins
* Ben Nguyen
* Diego Brandao
* Gabi Garcia
* Jairzinho Rozenstruik
* Daron Cruickshank
* Ren Hiramoto
* Amir Aliakbari
* Fedor Emelianenko
* Vadim Nemkov
* Jiří Procházka
* Tatsuya Kawajiri
* Satoru Kitaoka
* Takasuke Kume
* Daron Cruickshank
* Takanori Gomi
* Yusuke Yachi
* Let's Gota
* K-Taro Nakamura
* C.B. Dollaway
* Sudario Tsuyoshi

Affiliated organizations

Rizin FF is affiliated with the following organizations:

* Bellator MMA
* Invicta FC
* Fight Nights Global
* Russian MMA Union
* Jungle Fight
* Deep
* Shooto
* VTJ
* K-1
* Shoot boxing
* Road FC
* KSW
* Lithuania Bushido Federation
* Gladiator Championship Fighting
* Full Metal Dojo

See also

* List of current mixed martial arts champions
* List of Bellator champions

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rizin Fighting Federation

Mixed martial arts in Japan
2015 establishments in Japan
Mixed martial arts organizations
Sports organizations established in 2015
Sports organizations of Japan