RIZIN 10 went down on Sunday, May 6 in Fukuoka, Japan — and it turned out to be a night full of surprises. Among them, a hotly anticipated main event between Kyoji Horiguchi and Ian McCall, two of the best outside the UFC, ended in just nine seconds. That was due to Horiguchi scoring a quick knockout over ‘Uncle Creepy.’ Earlier on, however, there were some shocks as well. Most notably, that would include Daron Cruickshank’s stunning head kick KO of Koshi Matsumoto. Cruickshank then flipped off his fallen opponent, something not likely to sit well in the mecca of martial arts (and its ideals of respect and honor) that is Japan.

Winning big on the night as well was Kanako Murata, whose eye was swollen shut by the end of her fight against Lanchana Green. Despite the adversity, she was able to sink in an anaconda choke to score the submission win.

You can check out highlights from all the action at RIZIN 10 below, courtesy of RIZIN FF! For full results and more highlights, head on over to our RIZIN 10 results page!

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RIZIN 10 took place early Sunday for those of us in the west, and what a show the Japanese promotion put on to start their year. With a number of memorable finishes, RIZIN kicked off its 2018 line-up with a blast. Topping the card was a highly anticipated battle of former UFC flyweights. Kyoji Horiguchi had been perfect since leaving the UFC (a promotion he walked away from while on a win streak), and that didn’t change on Sunday.

Instead, Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ian McCall was over before it even started. Off the opening bell the two looked light on their feet, but what was expected to be a protracted battle came to a quick finish when Horiguchi clipped McCall with essentially his first punch, dropping him. Horiguchi swarmed, looking to add follow-up strikes but the ref was already waving it off. It took just nine seconds for Kyoji Horiguchi to seal the deal.

https://twitter.com/Maldobabo/status/993090866041491456

In the co-main event, under kickboxing rules, Tenshin Nasukawa had a pair of knockdowns early in the first round, and seemed to wobble opponent Yusaku Nakamura with every strike thrown. Nakamura continually found himself forced to clinch, dragging Tenshin to the ground on several occasions. The fight had the look of an MMA scrap as a result, rather than a kickboxing battle. By rounds’ end, Tenshin had floored his foe several times, but to his credit, Nakamura kept coming back for more.

Round two saw Yusaku Nakamura open with an offensive flurry of his own, connecting on Tenshin and giving him pause. Yet the teenage phenom quickly answered back with a low kick and left hand that sent Nakamura backpedaling into the ropes. A follow-up combo scored another knockdown for Tenshin. Another left by the ropes later bloodied Nakamura. The future of striking in Japan (and arguably the present), Tenshin Nasukawa, still just a teenager despite a 25-0 kickboxing record and 4-0 MMA record starting the night, had his creativity on display thoughtout.

https://twitter.com/Jolassanda/status/993086019053543425

A final 1-2 combination, with the left hand dropping Nakamura, captured the win for Tenshin, who will quickly move to main event status with performances like that.

Earlier in the night, Daron Cruickshank stayed mobile, switched stances, and looked to land an overhand right early. Yet what he did land was a vicious head kick that dropped opponent Koshi Matsumoto instantly.

Oh my, Daron. pic.twitter.com/0tZWOQo56J

— inxxane (@inxxane) May 6, 2018

Cruickshank that stirred up some controversy, flipping off his fallen opponent.

https://twitter.com/Jolassanda/status/993060087328595974

Elsewhere on the card, Kanako Murata scored a second round sub of Lanchana Green, finishing her opponent off with an anaconda choke. That despite taking enough damage earlier in the bout to see her left eye swell nearly completely shut. Also earlier in the night, Manel Kape, the last man to beat McCall before Horiguchi, got his striking going early, even trying out a flying knee. He soon had Kai Asakura on the ground, but couldn’t keep him there. Asakura, prior to the bout, had said he was willing to die in the ring, and both men were looking for a finish. Asakura certainly held his own during the fight, clipping Kape later in the first and forcing him to pull guard in a guillotine attempt, buying time to recover. A little bad blood and showboating between rounds led to another active second round, only this time, it was Kai Asakura scoring the takedown, and staying in control for a good chunk of the round. Yet after three rounds (RIZIN did away with the ten minute first round for RIZIN 10), neither man could find a finish. That led to a split decision from the judges, with Asakura getting the nod.

Yusuke Yachi, meanwhile, faced UFC, WEC, and Bellator vet Diego Nunes. After an active first round, Yachi came out in the second guns blazing. He was quickly backing Nunes up, unloading with combinations until a slip. Nunes moved in, but Yachi fired off several upkicks, at least one of which connected. Nunes crashed down onto Yachi, and ate some more short punches, though he survived the  round. In the third, Nunes again found himself on top of Yachi, landing a fair amount of ground and pound. Yet again, he ate a couple of upkicks, leading to Yachi getting back in control. The spirited back-and-forth affair made its way to the judges despite a final flurry. In the end, it was Yachi earning a split decision.

RIZIN 10 Full Results:

Kyoji Horiguchi def. Ian McCall by knockout, Round 1, 0:09
Tenshin Nasukawa def. Yusaku Nakamura by TKO, Round 2 (kickboxing rules)
Kanna Asakura def. Melissa Karagianis by unanimous decision
Yusuke Yachi def. Diego Nunes by split decision
Daron Cruickshank def. Koshi Matsumoto by KO (head kick), Round 1, 3:50
Issei Ishi def. Daishin Sakai by unanimous decision (kickboxing bout)
Kai Asakura def. Manel Kape by split decision
Ante Delija def. Ricardo Prasel by unanimous decision
Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Andrey Kovalev by split decision
Kanako Murata def. Lanchana Green by submission (anaconda choke), Round 1, 4:52
Hironori Kurogi vs. Tomohiro Kitai ended in a draw (kickboxing bout)

The post RIZIN 10 Results: Kyoji Horiguchi Scores Quick KO of Ian McCall, Daron Cruickshank Stuns With Head Kick appeared first on Cageside Press.

RIZIN 10 takes place Sunday, May 6, and for Western fans, the return of Japanese MMA means getting up bright and early. Or staying up extra late. Either way, it’s a card worth losing a little sleep over. With a main event of Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ian McCall, and a host of top names including teenage striking sensation Tenshin Nasukawa, it’s a must-see event. Undefeated in both MMA and kickboxing, Nasukawa represents the future of Japanese MMA — or at least, that’s what the promotion is no doubt hoping.

Headliner Ian ‘Uncle Creepy’ McCall said of Horiguchi that “that is actually the only fight I wanted. I’m most dangerous in wrestling and scrambles. But I am going to bring a fight, I don’t ever want to get near the ropes ever again so we are going to kick box. When I fight, we get in to a fight.” In McCall’s last appearance, he had his night cut short after suffering a nasty cut from the ring ropes.

Also on the card,  former UFC star Daron Cruickshank continues his run in Japan, taking on Koshi Matsumoto. Cruickshank is 2-2 in RIZIN, and looking to get back in the win column after dropping two straight. WEC, Bellator, and UFC veteran Diego Nunes, meanwhile, will look to make it four straight wins in about ten months when he meets Yusuke Yachi. Yachi has proved to be a dangerous fighter, and has won five straight, including victories over Cruickshank and Takanori Gomi.

Also keep an eye on Ayaka Hamasaki, who returns to Japan to fight for the first time since vacating her Invicta FC strawweight title.

The full results from the RIZIN 10 weigh-in are as follows:

Kyoji Horiguchi (60.8kg) vs Ian McCall (60.75kg)
Yusaku Nakamura (57.65kg) vs Tenshin Nasukawa (57.85kg)
Kanna Asakura (48.75kg) vs Melissa Karagianis (48.95kg)
Diego Nunes (69.75kg) vs Yusuke Yachi (69.75kg)
Daron Cruickshank (69.85kg) vs Koshi Matsumoto (69.95kg)
Issei Ishii (51.4kg) vs Daishin Sakai (51.3kg)
Manel Kape (59.0kg) vs Kai Asakura (58.9kg)
Ayaka Hamasaki (48.85kg) vs Alyssa Garcia (49.0kg)
Ante Delija (110.3kg) vs Ricardo Prasel (107.25kg)
Jairzinho Rozenstruik (111.35kg) vs Andrey Kovalev (103.4kg)
Kanako Murata (53.6kg) vs Lanchana Green (53.7kg)
Tomohiro Kitai (62.8kg) vs Kurogi Darvish (62.85kg)

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We’ll get to Horiguchi vs. McCall towards the end (which is actually a bantamweight battle), but who else is on the card? Why exactly should you watch? Don’t you find yourself asking that question sometimes? ‘Why am I watching this?”

Each fight in RIZIN is about pure entertainment value — that’s the premise. Who’ll deliver the best fight on the card? Could be that 1-3 fighter you’re sleeping on. In RIZIN, you never really know who’s going to stand out, but someone will blow you away. Stomps and kicks to grounded opponents are like sprinkles on top of Japanese MMA’s ice cream.

Let’s dig a bit deeper:

Viewers will stay for Ian McCall vs. Kyoji Horiguchi, and we’ll get to that in a second, but who else should you even pay attention to? We’ll give you a few things to look forward to on the RIZIN 10 card.

Tenshin Nasukawa, or simply ‘Tenshin’

Tenshin Nasukawa is the 19-year-old fighter that RIZIN is pushing to the moon at the moment. The hope is that he will single-handedly revive Japanese MMA in a few years, with his incredible offensive kickboxing skillset that nobody can adequately prepare for. Not only that, he’s a charismatic babyface that demands to be embraced by the public.

The first time  Tenshin fought in RIZIN (or in MMA period) back on December 29, 2016, he dusted his opponent, Nikita Sapun, in the very first round with crisp strikes. He then cut a promo demanding that he be allowed to fight just two days later, after he learned another fighter had withdrawn from a scheduled bout with Dylan Kawika Oligo.

Just two days into his MMA career, Tenshin had already amassed a 2-0 record by defeating Oligo via submission. In the next year he would go on to defeat Francesco Ghigliotti by knockout and Yamato Fujita by decision:

RIZIN FIGHTING FEDERATION WORLD GRAND-PRIX 2017: FINAL ROUND:Final do GP peso-mosca:Tenshin Nasukawa derrotou Yamato Fujita por nocaute no 1R pic.twitter.com/Qu6YjutIYj

— PANCADANTE (@pancadante) December 31, 2017

Nasukawa is now 4-0 in his MMA career, and all of his mixed martial arts fights have taken place at RIZIN events in Japan. That’s only part of the fun. Because that’s ONLY his MMA record. In kickboxing, Tenshin is an undefeated phenom at 25-0. Nasukawa has recorded 20 knockouts in kickboxing to date – HE’S 19!

This Sunday Yasuku Nakamura will have the displeasure of fighting Tenshin in the co-main event slot under kickboxing rules. Nakamura has the proverbial puncher’s chance in this contest.

If you want to learn more about Tenshin, look no further, but do turn the subtitles on:

Manel Kape vs. Kai Asukara

Manel Kape’s greatest accomplishment was arguably making it to the semi-finals of the Rizin Bantamweight Grand Prix and going 14:18 with Kyoji Horiguchi, but just two days before he did what many would have considered impossible: defeated Ian McCall to earn the opportunity to even face Horiguchi.

We’re not buying into Ian McCall’s bad luck spell mumbo jumbo – but he sure was unlucky in the quarterfinal round against Kape.

For some background, the Kape vs. McCall fight became heavily anticipated after Kape and McCall’s pre-fight antics set the stage for an emotional slugfest:

ICYMI: here’s the video of Ian McCall and Manel Kape and the altercation thereafter. #rizinff #mma pic.twitter.com/OrKrI1Y6pm

— Joe Ferraro (@JoeAFerraro) December 28, 2017

We didn’t ever get that though, because McCall cut his head against the ring ropes in the opening seconds of the fight – rendering him too injured to continue. Therefore Kape won the fight via TKO due to Doctor’s Stoppage.

https://twitter.com/punchdrunkpauly/status/946755606307676165

In the tweet above, you can see McCall’s forehead being torn apart by the second rope. We were robbed of that fight.

Kape then taunted the tournament-favorite and Japan’s Kyoji Horiguchi, which made him all the more unlikeable. Horiguchi slowly but surely defeated Kape when they met, as Manel ultimately succumbed to an arm triangle choke in the third round of their fight.

Manel Kape’s quite the character — you want to cheer him against certain fighters and boo him against the rest, but you definitely want him to have a successful career no matter what. It’s not exactly clear where his skill level is at, but we’d have a better idea if the fight with McCall played out a bit further. We know he’s not ‘UFC level,’ at least not yet – but he’s only 24, and his MMA record sits at 9-2.

Kape will fight Japan’s Kai Asukara on Sunday, who boasts a 9-1 record of his own.

Asukara’s as likeable as they come — he always brings a crew of around 200 close friends to watch him fight and he’s open to fights with anybody. Like Tenshin – Asukara is known for cutting promos and playing to the crowd after his fights, often asking who they’d like to see him face off against next.

RIZIN put together these ‘RIZIN Confessions’ video packages to help you get to know the fighters better, and Kai Asukara’s episode is excellent, but again, turn on the subtitles (unless you’re fluent in Japanese, in which case, sugoi!)

Stomps and Soccer Kicks!

That’s right – it’s all legal in Japan, in the MMA bouts at least. While such a strike in the UFC or Bellator would render the fight over via an illegal strike, RIZIN allows the use of stomps and soccer kicks to grounded opponents. That makes for some exciting action that wouldn’t be possible in many organizations outside of RIZIN; it’s a treat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhPzRl8pbaA

Ian McCall vs. Kyoji Horiguchi

Even though Ian McCall hasn’t won many of his MMA bouts since 2012, he still likely possesses the skills to finish any bantamweight in the world. After all, he nearly finished Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson just six years ago – and Mighty Mouse looks untouchable now.

This is really Horiguchi’s fight to lose, as he’s riding an eight-fight win streak all the way over from the top end of the UFC bantamweight competition. When he left the UFC, he chose the leave — he didn’t get cut like most fighters do. The last time we saw Horiguchi he finished two fighters in one night, Manel Kape, and Shintaro Ishiwatari, by submission and knockout respectively, to win the 2017 Rizin Bantamweight Grand Prix and the RIZIN Bantamweight Championship.

Is Ian McCall the same fighter that took Demetrious Johnson the distance in early 2012? Or will Ian McCall be easily handled by what we know is an elite bantamweight in Kyoji Horiguchi?

That’s the big question.

The RIZIN 10 Card Streams in North America on RIZINFF.COM on Sunday May 6 @ 1:30 a.m. EST.

Full RIZIN 10 Card:

Kyoji Horiguchi  vs.  Ian McCall 134 lbs

Tenshin Nasukawa  vs.  Yusaku Nakamura 128 lbs

Kanna Asakura  vs.  M. Karagianis108 lbs

Yusuke Yachi  vs.  Diego Nunes 154 lbs

Daron Cruickshank  vs.  Koshi Matsumoto 154 lbs

Issei Ishii  vs.  Daishin Sakai 114 lbs

Kai Asakura  vs.  Manel Kape 130 lbs

Ayaka Hamasaki  vs.  Alyssa Garcia 108 lbs

Ante Delija  vs.  Ricardo Prasel 265 lbs

1. Rozenstruik vs. Andrey Kovalev 265 lbs

Kanako Murata  vs.  Lanchana Green 119 lbs

Hironori Kurogi  vs.  Tomohiro Kitai 139 lbs

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