Yamaniha Decisions Tokoro, Goto Scores Twister Finish at Rizin Landmark Vol. 6

A tough fight until the final bell!

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— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) October 1, 2023

Grappling specialist Alan Yamaniha outworked 23-year veteran Hideo Tokoro to take a unanimous decision victory in Sunday’s bantamweight main event at Rizin Fighting Federation Landmark Vol. 6 in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.

Yamaniha (20-10-4, 4-2 Rizin) took advantage of an early mistake from Tokoro (35-33-1, 3-5 Rizin), who slipped while attempting a stomp and gave up his back in the process. Yamaniha maintained back control for the rest of the round, and then continued his dominance in Round 2 by hurting Tokoro with a punching flurry and following up with elbows to Tokoro’s face after taking him down.

Tokoro’s best success came during the final five minutes. While working from Yamaniha’s guard, Tokoro used body punches to set up a tight shoulder choke that had Yamaniha in some trouble. Yamaniha ultimately escaped, however, and he took Tokoro’s back again during the final 90 seconds of the fight.

All three judges scored the bout in favor of Yamaniha, who has won back-to-back fights for Rizin and joins a growing list of bantamweight title contenders.

Shoko Sato wins his RIZIN debut by split decision over Shinobu Ota!

RIZIN Bantamweight division continues to heat up... 🔥

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— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) October 1, 2023

In the co-main event, contested at 139 pounds, Shoko Sato (35-15-2, 1-0 Rizin) made the most of his Rizin debut by defeating Shinobu Ota (4-3, 4-3 Rizin) via split decision in a bout that did not appear to be as close as the scorecards suggested.

Sato held a clear advantage in striking whenever he was able to keep his distance from Ota, who tied him up in clinches at every opportunity. Ota’s takedowns did not lead to anything on the ground and Sato continued to pick him apart with jabs and right hooks. He stunned Ota with a head kick in Round 3, then countered a takedown with a tight guillotine choke, and appeared poised to take a decisive win on the scorecards.

One judge disagreed and favored Ota’s clinch work, but the remaining two both sided with Sato, who has won three of his past four bouts.

Back-to-back twisters?! 🌪️

Is Joji Goto the first fighter in MMA history to do that?!

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— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) October 1, 2023

Earlier in the night, Joji Goto (15-6, 2-0 Rizin) made history by scoring his second victory in a row via submission due to a twister, as he forced Junya Hibino (6-3, 1-1 Rizin) to tap out to the painful hold at 2:00 of Round 2.

Goto, who won his Rizin debut against Trent Girdham in June with the same modified twister that he utilized on Sunday, trapped Hibino during a scramble on the mat. Hibino briefly held out as Goto cranked on his neck before reluctantly tapping. Prior to this year, Goto had never won a fight via twister, but he has given future opponents something to be wary of and is 6-2 during his past eight fights.

In other MMA action on the main card, heavyweight prospect Tsuyoshi Kamiyama (8-2, 8-2 Rizin) stopped short-notice opponent Dong Hwan Lim (4-7, 0-1 Rizin) with punches at 2:10 of Round 3; Yuki Ito (15-5, 5-1 Rizin) edged out Road to UFC veteran Thanongsaklek Chuwattana (9-6, 1-3 Rizin) – better known as “Topnoi Kiwram” – via split decision at flyweight; Yusaku Nakamura (18-10-1, 3-4 Rizin) won a narrow split decision over Hiroya Kondo (8-12-1, 0-2 Rizin) in a 128-pound catchweight bout; middleweight Igor Tanabe (4-0, 2-0 Rizin) stayed unbeaten by tapping out Koji Shikuwa (5-10, 0-1 Rizin) with a triangle choke at 3:40 of Round 1; and Machi Fukuda (4-0, 1-0 Rizin) did just enough to win a split decision against Shooto champ Ayaka Watanabe (3-2, 0-1 Rizin) in women’s strawweight action.

Grachan champion Hidetaka Arato (10-0, 1-0 Rizin) rallied back after a shaky first round and stopped fellow heavyweight Satoshi Kamiyama (0-3, 0-3 Rizin) with standing punches at 4:49 of Round 2; UFC veteran Rogerio Bontorin (17-5, 2 NC, 1-1 Rizin) won a unanimous decision against Yutaro Muramoto (11-8-2, 2-3 Rizin) at flyweight; Viktor Kolesnik (25-4-1, 2-0 Rizin) extended his winning streak to seven by defeating featherweight Ryo Takagi (6-2, 0-1 Rizin) via unanimous decision; and lightweight Yusaku Inoue (11-4-1, 1-0 Rizin) finished Kohei Tokeshi (7-11, 1-3 Rizin) with a flying knee and punches at 1:11 of Round 1.

Rounding out the card, Genji Umeno defeated Yuto Saito via majority decision in a bantamweight kickboxing match; Genki Takeno defeated Ryota Naito via unanimous decision in flyweight kickboxing action; Shogo Oota (3-2, 1-0 Rizin) submitted Ginji Hara (4-2, 0-1 Rizin) with an armbar at 1:52 of Round 1 during their 150-pound catchweight MMA bout; and Ryuki Kirishima (4-1, 1-0 Rizin) opened the event with a two-round unanimous decision victory over Masanari Yamada (2-2, 0-1 Rizin) in a bantamweight MMA contest.