Issue 136
December 2015
Rizin to end 2015 with a bang
Details continue to emerge about MMA’s return to Japan on New Year’s Eve. Rizin Fighting World Grand-Prix 2015 will take place across two nights on December 29th and 31st at the Saitama Super Arena. As well as star attraction Fedor Emelianenko, fighters from the Bellator, Bushido, KSW, Jungle Fight and BAMMA promotions are set to appear.
Contests will be held in a ring and follow rules based mostly on those used in Pride Fighting Championship – so we could see the return of soccer kicks and stomps. A match between Japanese legends Shinya Aoki (pictured) and Kazushi Sakuraba was the first to made official.
48,709
Rizin was founded by former Pride executive Nobuyuki Sakakibara. The last New Year’s show he produced was Pride Shockwave 2006, which drew almost 50,000 fans to the Saitama Super Arena.
On the radar
Unsigned talent with big potential
Rico Verhoeven (Netherlands)
The Glory kickboxing heavyweight champion made a successful debut for the RXF promotion in Romania in October. If the 26-year-old decides his foray into the cage is more than a one-off, he’ll be one of MMA’s most dangerous strikers.
Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger (USA)
Resurrection Fighting Alliance’s newly-minted 125lb champ scored a huge upset by dominating former world number one Zoila Frausto, and made a huge case to become the latest addition to the UFC’s exiting strawweight division.
Yuki Motoya (Japan)
Deep’s flyweight king is on a six-fight tear, which includes wins over veterans Masakazu Iminari, Yoshiro Maeda and former RFA champ Matt Mazanares. He could be Asia’s next great hope for success in the West.
POLL POSITION
Top class
The featherweight division is making the headlines as 2015 draws to a close, but does it boast the best talent? FO asked you which weight class you believe is the most talent-stacked in MMA
#FOmag poll on the most talent stacked weight class
Featherweight = 18%
Lightweight = 15%
Welterweight = 27%
Middleweight = 40%
Dustin Klinger: “185 pounds... Weidman, Souza, Rockhold, Romero. There isn’t a top four better than that.”
Stephen Ozzey Osborn: “Middleweight division is stacked with talent and great future fights.”
Dan Carroll: “Lightweight is the deepest. But I’d say FW and MW are the most exciting.”
Vincent Agundez: “Definitely the welterweight division. It’s a murderers’ row down there.”
@dazaturbo: “Middleweight easily.”
Myles Bennett: “Lightweight or welterweight right now.”
Stevie Armstrong: “Middlewight – though Weidman will be up at 205 before we know it.”
What's hot
‘Super’ Sage Northcutt
The UFC’s teenage sensation dazzled at UFC 192. MMA’s real-life Ken doll will look to prove he’s not just flavor of the month in his second fight on December 10th.
MMA justice
More than 114,000 people signed a White House petition to lift Nick Diaz’s five-year suspension. That must have even raised a smile from the Stockton bad boy.
‘Tis the season!
Four blockbuster December UFC events in just nine days – featuring three title fights and a galaxy of all-action stars. Happy Holidays indeed.
What's not
Weight-cut woes
Johny Hendricks was the latest man to fall foul to a taxing attempt to drop the pounds, denying us a tasty 170lb fight with Tyron Woodley.
The chopping block
Several fighters were cut from the UFC as part of a fall roster reduction. If they can’t make the grade, they must ply their trade elsewhere.
Francisco Trevino
Everything he could do wrong at UFC 192, he did. He missed weight, was finished in 57 seconds, pushed the referee and failed a post-fight test for marijuana.
STAR SIGHTING
Hoop heroes
Who? Dwight Howard & James Harden
Where? UFC 192
Houston Rockets stars Howard (left) and Harden embraced the grind ahead of the start of the NBA season by watching Daniel Cormier defeat Alexander Gustaffson. If you keep up with the Kardashians, you might have also spotted Harden canoodling with Khloe at the Toyota Center too.
$522 million
The UFC’s reported annual revenue for 2014, according to Moody’s Investors Service. That’s up $39 million from the previous year.
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