RIZIN closed the year with a night of wild finishes in Saitama, Japan, and crowned Kyoji Horiguchi as its first-ever flyweight champion. Horiguchi defeated Makoto Shinryu in a rematch in the main event of RIZIN 45 on New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Super Arena.
The first bout between the two took place in July and ended in just 25 seconds when an accidental eye-poke resulted in a no-contest. This time, Horiguchi and Shinryu put on a wild display for as long as it lasted.
The fast-paced opening round featured multiple submission attempts from both sides, but the finish came in the second stanza, when Horiguchi took Shinryu’s back and landed punches to open space for a rear-naked choke.
In the co-main event, Kai Asakura was crowned the RIZIN bantamweight champion after flooring Juan Archuleta with a vicious knee to the body.
Archuleta missed weight for RIZIN 45, forcing him to be stripped of his title and leaving him in no position to win the match — a victory would be automatically overturned to a no-contest — but he still went for it in a wild brawl in Round 1, ultimately receiving a yellow card for landing punches after the bell.
Asakura and Archuleta returned in Round 2 looking for blood, and the Japanese talent nailed Archuleta with a strike to the body for the victory and a second run with the bantamweight belt.
Elsewhere on the card, former champions Kleber Koike and Yutaka Saito clashed for a better position in the RIZIN featherweight rankings. Saito fought a smart strategy in the opening two rounds, but decided to shoot for a takedown in the third, allowing Koike to secure a guillotine choke and put him unconscious.
In the early portion of the show, former RIZIN bantamweight champion Hiromasa Ougikubo rebounded from a three-fight skid against Archuleta, Horiguchi, and Soo Chul Kim with a unanimous decision victory over former UFC contender John Dodson in a flyweight matchup.
Pound-for-pound great Seika Izawa retired 49-year-old Miyuu Yamamoto with a rear-naked choke finish. Izawa extends her MMA record to a perfect 12-0, seven of those under the RIZIN banner.
Mikio Ueda kept the action going with a head kick knockout of heavyweight Tsuyoshi Sudario, plus Shinobu Ota and Igor Tanabe secured slick submissions. Watch the finishes, and check the complete RIZIN 45 results below.
Main Card
- Kyoji Horiguchi def. Makoto Shinryu via submission (rear-naked choke) — Round 2, 3:44
- Kai Asakura def. Juan Archuleta via TKO — Round 2, 3:20
- Kleber Koike def. Yutaka Saito via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 3, 1:21
- Ren Hiramoto def. Ya-Man via unanimous decision
- Seika Izawa def. Miyuu Yamamoto via submission (rear-naked choke) — Round 2, 0:37
- Mikio Ueda def. Tsuyoshi Sudario via TKO — Round 2, 0:55
- Hiromasa Ougikubo def. John Dodson via unanimous decision
- Vince Morales def. Yuki Motoya via unanimous decision
- Shinobu Ota def. Ryusei Ashizawa via TKO — Round 1, 2:21
- Kouzi def. Kota Miura via TKO — Round 2, 0:59
- Igor Tanabe def. Shinsho Anzai via submission (rear-naked choke) — Round 1, 1:32
- Hiroya Kondo def. Jo Arai via TKO — Round 2, 2:53
- Yuta Kubo def. Rukiya Anpo via submission (rear-naked choke) — Round 1, 4:28
Preliminary Card
- Suguru Nii def. Satoshi Yamasu via KO — Round 2, 1:03
- Tatsuki Shinotsuka def. Daichi Tomizawa via unanimous decision — kickboxing
- Ryujin Nasukawa def. Jongmin Shin via TKO — Round 2, 2:16
- Joe Hiramoto def. Yushi Sakura via unanimous decision
This story originally appeared on MMA fighting