Contato Highlights

Santiago fought highly regarded Polish competitor Mamed Khalidov in a non-title fight. Khalidov extended his undefeated streak to 18 fights and stopped Santiago via first-round TKO at Sengoku Raiden Championships 11 in November.

Vítor Belfort defeated Ivan Serati by TKO at Cage Rage 21 in England on April 21, 2007. He defeated James Zikic on September 22, 2007 at Cage Rage 23 to claim the Cage Rage light heavyweight title in a unanimous decision. He entered the fight with a broken hand and during the fight threw minimal punches and utilized takedowns and ground and pound techniques.

Professional russian light heavyweight MMA fighter and Bellator champion Vadim Nemkov from Fedor's Team against czech light heavyweight athlete and RIZIN champion Jiri Prochazka with nickname "Denisa". Fight took place in Saitama, Japan on December 31, 2015.

Kazuo Misaki vs Melvin Manhoef K1 Dynamite 2009

NOKI BOM-BA-YE x Ganryujima (December 28, 2022 / Ryogoku Kokugikan) [Jiu-jitsu x MMA] Igor Tanabe vs Melvin Manhoef

On July 29, 2018, Takanori Gomi faced Melvin Guillard at Rizin 11 in Saitama, Japan.012 Gomi had lost his last six fights all by way of first-round knockout or submission. Guillard, a former UFC lightweight, was riding the worst skid of his career with seven-straight losses.1 Gomi won via KO in under 3 minutes in the first round, extending Guillard's winless skid to nine bouts.0 This was Gomi's first victory on Japanese soil since a TKO win over Eiji Mitsuoka at UFC 144 back in 2012.

It was announced Nemkov would make his Rizin debut against Goran Reljic. He won the bout by knockout in the first round, advancing to the semi-finals 2 days later. In the semi-finals on December 31, Nemkov faced Jiří Procházka, losing via retirement due to being too exhausted at the end of the first (10 minute) round.

Jiu-jitsu legend Kron Gracie (2-0) returned to Japan for his second professional MMA fight. This time under the Rizin Fighting Federation banner. As expected, Gracie submitted his opponent Asen Yamamoto in the first round. However, Yamamoto made the 27-year-old Gracie work for the victory. Yamamoto had success escaping out of Gracie's tight armbar attempt as well as other dangerous positions. But after five minutes of fighting, Gracie was able to lock in a triangle choke that forced the tough Yamamoto to tap out.

RIZIN 24 | Takasuke Kume vs Satoru Kitaoka RIZIN MMA Rules 71.0kg / 156.5lb

Vugar Karamov defeats Taichi Nakajima via Submission at 2:00 of Round 1.

The Rizin 43 headliner saw Kleber Koike Erbst face Chihiro Suzuki in what should have been Erbst’s first attempt to defend the featherweight championship. Unfortunately, the Brazilian missed weight by .9 pounds the day before and was stripped of the title, making Suzuki the only fighter eligible to win the crown. During the fight, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Erbst (31-6-1, 1NC; 6-1, 1 NC Rizin) dominated Suzuki (10-3, 1NC; 5-1, 1NC Rizin) from top to bottom. After a minute of striking exchanges on the feet, Erbst dragged his opponent on the mat and quickly gained the mount position. Once there, Erbst landed sporadic punches while threatening his foe with submission attempts. With precision and methodology, the Brazilian set up an armbar that inevitably made Suzuki tap at the 2:59 mark. Since Erbst missed weight, the clash was ruled no contest in accordance with the promotion’s rules, nullifying his dominant performance.

Anderson Silva defeated Jorge Rivera in round 2 at Cage Rage 11 in London, a year before he began his remarkable run in the UFC.2 Rivera, a Muay Thai practitioner, is one of the hardest punchers in the UFC's middleweight division, having finished the vast majority of his wins by knockout.0 Although he was not successful in achieving a slot in the middleweight finals, he appeared on the live card of The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale, defeating Edwin DeWees by technical knockout in the first round. He then was defeated by Terry Martin by KO via an uppercut at UFC 67, fourteen seconds into round one.

Hinata Watanabe defeats Kazuyuki Miyata via KO/TKO at 2:14 of Round 1.

Professional american heavyweight boxer, kickboxer and MMA fighter with controversial forms Eric Esch with nickname “Butterbean” against legendary mma fighter and Pride FC veteran from England James Thompson with nickname “The Colossus”. Fight took place in Wembley Arena, London, England on February 10, 2007.

Yusuke Yachi defeats Takanori Gomi via Submission at 2:36 of Round 1

Professional russian young and talented middleweight MMA fighter and Bellator participant Anatoly Tokov from Fedor Emelianenko's Team against high skilled american athlete A.J. Matthew with nickname "The Mercenary". Fight took place in Saitama, Japan on December 29, 2015.

Anderson Silva beats Curtis Stout in Cage Rage 14.

Both fighters are orthodox fighters. Motoya starts with a couple of low kicks, and a left hook that is way off. A low kick that connects by Motoya is followed up by Efrain throwing a jumping left round house. The fighters exchange punches before another jumping kick from Efrain. They exchange a series of kicks and punches, with Motoya the aggressor. They clinch and Motoya start throwing knees to Efrain’s body.They clinch again and Efrain tries to hip throw Motoya but is not successful. Motoya has both arms firmly wrapped around Efrain’s waist and takes him down. He controls Efrain and mounts him close to the ropes. Efrain, in the half guard, tries to escape but Motoya controls him well. Efrain is able to stand but Motoya takes him back down again straight away. Efrain gets to all fours and Motoya takes his back and goes for the sleeper submission. He is able to roll Efrain over onto his back and goes for the sleeper again. Efrain rolls back over to all fours with Motoya’s coach screaming “go for his arm”, which Motoya momentarily tries.Efrain shows some good strength, standing up from all fours with Motoya on his back. With Efrain now standing straight up, Motoya has piggy backed him and is going for another sleeper. Efrain moves to the corner as Motoya starts striking, still on Efrain’s back. Motoya has been the aggressor in this fight and continues a flurry of punches to Efrain’s face, still riding his back. Efrain finally gets him off his back but Motoya takes him back down to the ground. Efrain has barely had any offense and Motoya lands a knee to Efrain’s face. Efrain escapes to the ropes, clinging onto them for dear life! The referee doesn’t stop the fight and both fighters clinch and trade positions back in forth. Efrain finally lands something, a right hook and then a middle right kick to Motoya’s ribs but he slips in the process. He gets up straight away. Efrain throws a right uppercut and THEN OUT OF NOWHERE hits Motoya with a massive left hook that sends Motoya reeling to the canvas. He stands over a fallen Motoya and throws a barrage of punches, and the referee has no choice but to stop the fight. (fight to be ruled no-contest due to Efrain missing weight)

Professional russian young and perspective heavyweight MMA fighter and Bellator participant Valentin Moldavsky from Fedor Emelianenko's Team against talented japanese athlete Yuta Uchida. Fight took place in Saitama, Japan on December 29, 2015.

Professional brazilian heavyweight MMA fighter Carlos Toyota against russian high skilled athlete and 6-times world combat sambo champion Kirill Sidelnikov from Fedor's Team with nickname "Baby Fedor". Fight took place in Saitama, Japan on December 29, 2015.

Daron Cruickshank added yet another kick-related knockout to his highlight reel today when he decimated Koshi Matsumoto with a perfect strike at Rizin FF 10. Cruickshank (19-10) came into the FITE TV-streamed event, which took place at Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan, on the heels of consecutive stoppage losses. He turned things around in an epic manner, though, after sleeping Matsumoto (19-8-2) in the opening round of their lightweight fight.

Professional american lightweight MMA fighter and Pride FC veteran Charles Bennett with nickname "Felony" (ex "Krazy Horse") against brazilian athlete Minoru Kimura. Fight took place in Saitama, Japan on September 25, 2016

Justin Gaethje knocked out Drew Fickett in round 1 at 0:12 in RITC - Rage in the Cage 163.

Both fighters start off punching aggressive with the odd kick thrown in. Tokoro goes for a takedown but Saiga evades, twice. After a series of kick and punch exchanges, Saiga connects with a right cross that sends Tokoro back to the corner. Tokoro comes out of the corner and gets the takedown into a mount, but Saiga reverses into guard. Saiga eventually stands and waves for Tokoro to get up. Saiga misses a spinning kick that goes over Tokoro’s head, and then Saiga connects on a high kick but Tokoro catches it and uses it to drag Saiga down. Saiga escapes to his feet once but Tokoro takes him right back down as Saiga’s wife is screaming loudly from the crowd, cheering her husband on. Tokoro locks on a rear-naked choke but he loses control of the body triangle. They both scramble, and roll around trying to lock submissions on each other. Nothing comes of it and they both stand up. Saiga hits a strong left hook that sends Tokoro backwards but Tokoro rolls into a stunning kneebar. He tries for a calf slicer but goes back to the back-mount. With Saiga defending against the rear-naked choke, Tokoro looks for an armbar, finally locks one on and taps Saiga out.