Fight Facts: Rizin 30

Kai Asakura (@kai_1031_) searching for the kill!

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— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) September 19, 2021

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Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and ring rarities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF RIZIN FIGHTS: 314
TOTAL NUMBER OF RIZIN EVENTS: 33

Rizin Fighting Federation held the entirety of its bantamweight quarterfinals of its grand prix at Rizin 30. Like the last event in June, judges worked overtime, as scorecards were needed for a majority of the bouts. This event followed a recent trend of low finish rate Rizin cards, while featuring a former champ carving a swath through his side of the bracket and one of the quickest knockouts in organizational history.

Forgotten Finishing Instinct: The promotion’s last two events, Rizin 29 and Rizin 30, have staged a total of 15 MMA bouts. Only two have ended inside the distance between those two cards, and both stoppages came at Rizin 30.

Light is Alright: Neither Rizin 29 nor Rizin 30 featured any fighter competing above lightweight. It is now the second two-event stretch to feature no competitor weighing more than 156 pounds, with the first Rizin 22 and Rizin 23.

Slow-Moving Tourney: Rizin completed its grand prix quarterfinals at Rizin 30, setting the stage for the semifinals on New Year’s Eve. Of those 12 contests thus far, nine have gone the distance, with three first-round knockouts courtesy of Kenta Takizawa, Naoki Inoue and Kai Asakura.

Should Be Asakura vs. Takizawa, Ougikubo vs. Inoue: Four semifinalists remain in the Rizin bantamweight tournament: Asakura, Inoue, Hiromasa Ougikubo and Takizawa. The matchups have not yet been determined, and the fighters will have to compete twice on one night in the semifinals and finals.

The Record is in Sight: Outdueling Alan Yamaniha to win a decision, Asakura earned his 10th win under the Rizin banner. He is now tied with Kyoji Horiguchi and Rena Kubota for the second-most victories in company history. Jiri Prochazka stands above with 11, but he could be matched and surpassed should Asakura win out in the grand prix.

He Puts Asakuras in Seats: Six times has Asakura served as the main MMA attraction for a Rizin card, including his encounter with Yamaniha. He only trails two-time opponent Kyoji Horiguchi, who notched seven marquee positions with the company.

Not This Time: As he needed three full rounds to beat Yamaniha, Asakura’s career finish rate dropped to 78% with his win. Before this decision, the last seven bouts for Asakura, win or lose, ended by knockout within 5:38.

Presumptive Finalist: In five appearances with Rizin, Inoue has prevailed every time. He currently holds the highest undefeated record of anyone that actively competes with the promotion.

Remember the Hiro Smirk: Ougikubo punched his ticket to the semifinals by taking a decision over Takafumi Otsuka. As a pro, 70% of Ougikubo’s wins have come at the hands of the judges, including each of his last six dating back three years.

On the Ropes and Through Them: Heavily favored against Takizawa, Yuki Motoya fell victim to strikes that knocked him through the ropes and ultimately to a loss. Motoya’s defeat was his fifth as a Rizin fighter, giving him the second-most in company history. Satoru Kitaoka stands alone with six defeats with the organization.

Legend Against Legend: Capturing a decision against woman’s MMA pioneer Emi Fujino, Ayaka Hamasaki picked up her ninth win as a Rizin fighter. She is one shy of the record among all women to fight in the Rizin ring, as Kubota has gotten her hand raised 10 times.

Bet on That: Ahead of her match with Fujino, one in which she did not put her atomweight strap on the line, Hamasaki closed as a tremendous -2500 favorite. Even Kayla Harrison did not come in as that high of a favorite in any of her Professional Fighters League bouts, as she closed at -2150, -1900 and -2000 as she steamrolled the competition.

A Regular Rizin Representative: Rizin favorite Yusuke Yachi faced off against Koji Takeda and won a decision on the first section of the card. The appearance was Yachi’s 12th, tying him with three other competitors for the second-most bouts in Rizin history. Kanna Asakura has fought with Rizin 13 times, a record so far.

Ota Overtime: 2016 Olympic silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling Shinobu Ota bounced back from his unsuccessful debut by moving up a weight class from bantamweight to featherweight. Ota won a decision over MMA neophyte Yuta Kubo.

Maruyowza: In 20 seconds, Shoji Maruyama sparked Chihiro Suzuki with punches. Maruyama notched the sixth-fastest finish in Rizin history with his victory, and the second-fastest at featherweight. The quickest, which also came at 145 pounds, saw Charles Bennett knock Minoru Kimura out in seven seconds in 2016.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Rizin 30, Ota had never fought beyond the midpoint of the second round, Kubo had never fought in MMA (59 kickboxing matches) and Suzuki had never been finished (seven fights).

A Family Affair: Ahead of his fight against Ota, Kubo’s wife, Sarah Kubo, sang his walkout music for him in a full performance. Kubo came up short after his custom entrance, losing a decision to Ota.