Fight Facts: Rizin FF 19

Jay PettryOct 15, 2019


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: 221
TOTAL NUMBER OF RIZIN EVENTS: 22

Rizin Fighting Federation on Saturday put on one heck of a show in Osaka, Japan, where every MMA fight ended inside the distance. Rizin 19 featured the most knockouts on any Rizin card, the fastest submission in company history and one of the most dominant fighters in the promotion racking up another stoppage win.

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THOSE WEARING LARGE GLOVES: Rizin 19 featured 10 fights with 10 stoppages, and nine came in the first round. Although there were three kickboxing matches, their results do not contribute to the MMA numbers studied within.

RIZIN HEARTS BELLATOR: Rizin 19 is the first event in organizational history in which every fight ended before the final horn. This momentous occasion recently occurred for the first time in the Bellator MMA cage at Bellator 225, and it has happened -- or not happened -- for a number of other promotions.

A PERFECT TEN: Four events throughout Rizin history have now featured 10 fights ending inside the distance. Rizin 19 joins Rizin Saraba, Rizin 4 and Rizin 14.

LIKE DOMINOES: As 10 straight MMA fights ended inside the distance, this event set the record for the most consecutive stoppages in Rizin history. The previous record was eight, taking place at Rizin 4.

BRING ON LA VIOLENCIA: Nine fights ended in Round 1, one shy of the record set at Rizin Saraba in 2015. No other event has seen more than seven.

I, RIZIN, WILL KNOCK YOU ALL DOWN!: If we count a submission to a punch, nine knockouts took place at Rizin 19, setting the record for the most all-time.

DENISA DOMINATION: By smashing Fabio Maldonado in the 220-pound catchweight headliner, Jiri Prochazka became the first fighter in Rizin history to record 10 wins with the promotion.

THE JIRI SHOW: Prochazka’s win over Maldonado also extended his Rizin records for the most knockouts (eight) and most finishes (nine) and gave him the most appearances with 11.

PROCHAZ-KO: With Prochazka picking up the knockout, he has now knocked out each of his last seven opponents and has scored finishes in 24 of his 25 career wins.

IT’S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL SOMEONE LOSES A JAW: Coming off a recent knockout win over Kyoji Horiguchi, Kai Asakura stepped in on short notice to knock out Yuta Sasaki. A right hand from Asakura broke the jaw of his opponent, causing the first injury TKO in promotional history.

GOING HAM: Seo Hee Ham likely earned a title shot when “Hamderlei Silva” finished Miyuu Yamamoto with strikes. Not traditionally a knockout artist, all four of her career knockout wins have come in her last five fights.

NO COMMISSION WOULD HAVE SANCTIONED THIS: Rena Kubota battered short-notice replacement opponent Alexandra Alvare Carlos in the first round. Prior to her Rizin debut, Carlos was 0-3 with three knockout losses on her ledger.

ROMPIN’ RENA: Kubota needed only 20 seconds to dismantle Carlos, earning her the fourth-fastest finish in Rizin history and the fastest from a female fighter.

WHY DOES SHE HAVE THAT POINTING HAND?: The domination of Carlos marking her seventh stoppage victory in the Rizin ring, Kubota tied Horiguchi for the second-most finishes in promotional history. She has stopped more opponents than any other female fighter in Rizin, with the next closest combatant being Gabi Garcia (five).

THE SOUZA CONNECTION: Two brothers competed at Rizin 19: Roberto de Souza and Marcos Yoshio Souza. Both lost by knockout at exactly 1:15 of the first round.

GATHER ’ROUND, IT’S NYE TOURNAMENT TIME: The lightweight grand prix commenced at this event, as Johnny Case, Patricky Freire, Luiz Gustavo Felix dos Santos and Tofiq Musayev all prevailed by first-round knockout. After the drawing, Case will face Musayev and Freire will confront Felix dos Santos in the semifinals on Dec. 29.

WELCOME TO JAPAN, PITBULL: Freire blasted Tatsuya Kawajiri with a flying knee to record a 70-second stoppage and did so to earn the third flying knee knockout in Rizin history.

A DIVERSE KILLER: Felix dos Santos opened a cut on Hiroto Uesako to earn a doctor stoppage victory. Across his 10 wins, “Killer” has prevailed five times with strikes and another five times by tapout.

Y’ALL MUSAYEV FORGOT: Musayev battered Damien Brown, finishing him with a head kick to earn the sixth stoppage via head kick inside the Rizin ring. Musayev has stopped his opponent in 15 of his 16 wins, with his lone decision coming over Daron Cruickshank at Rizin 16.

SAVE YOUR FIGHTERS: Fresh off an eight-fight Ultimate Fighting Championship tenure where he alternated wins and losses throughout, Keita Nakamura made Yoshio Souza’s corner throw in the towel. It was the fourth corner stoppage TKO in Rizin history and the third to take place during a round.

AH, THE OPENWEIGHT: Although Chang Hee Kim came in 123.1 pounds heavier than Shoma Shibisai, he lost by first-round submission. All three fighters in Rizin history that have weighed at least 50 pounds more than their opponents have lost by stoppage: Kim, James Thompson and Kaido Hoovelson.

FROM ATOM TO OPEN: Shibisai hit the second kimura in Rizin history when he submitted Kim in an openweight affair. The first came at the lightest weight class in the sport -- women's atomweight -- when Ayaka Hamasaki tapped Mina Kurobe with one at Rizin 13 in 2018. The two women in that contest weighed a combined 215.6 pounds, 21.2 pounds less than Shibisai.

SPEEDY SHIBISAI: When Shibisai pulled off the kimura on Kim in 69 seconds, he recorded the fastest submission in Rizin history. He beat the old record set by Hideo Tokoro’s armbar of Erson Yamamoto at Rizin 4 by 10 seconds.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into Rizin 19, Yamamoto had never been knocked out (eight fights), Yoshio Souza had never lost (nine fights) and Freire had never competed in Asia (29 fights).

Sherdog contributing editor Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012 and working for Vice Sports and Combat Docket along the way, he put together many fight result and entrance music databases to better study the sport. You can find him on twitter at @jaypettry.