Knockdown Daily 10/25/21: A Look At The Week Ahead and RIZIN Report
We take a look at the week ahead in the Monday issue
Welcome to the Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s issue will discuss yesterday’s RIZIN event and also provide a preview for the week ahead.
News
Doctor Stoppage Causes Title To Change Hands, Crowns Juntaro Ushiku New RIZIN Featherweight Champion
Juntaro Ushiku landed a slicing knee that cut Yutaka Saito open in the main event of RIZIN 31, causing a second-round doctor stoppage and the changing of ownership for the RIZIN Featherweight Championship.
The fight headlined a card that took place at the Pia Arena MM in Yokohama, Japan on Sunday.
A sudden stop to the fight in the second round crowned Ushiku the new 145-pound champ in RIZIN.
The main event bout was paused in the second round after Saito was visibly bleeding from his head. Replays on the broadcast showed that a flying knee from Ushiku was the exact strike that caused the cut.
After the cut was inspected in a corner of the ring, the call was made to end the fight. This was a decision that Saito visibly disagreed with.
Saito was attempting to defend his belt for the first time. He became the inaugural champ of the weight class last year, fighting to a unanimous decision victory over Mikuru Asakura.
Saito had fought once since his first title fight, defeating Vugar Karamov via split decision in a non-championship bout.
Ushiku was making his RIZIN debut in the fight. He entered with the notoriety of being the DEEP Impact Featherweight Champion, defeating Satoshi Yamasu to take the belt last year. He defended the title for the first time in July, defeating Daisuke Nakamura via split decision.
A full report on RIZIN 31 can be read here.
Here are the quick results:
Main Card (1:00AM EDT / 2:00PM JST) (Live-Now / RIZIN Live)
Bout 1: Ryuya Okuwaki def. Ryuto Oinuma via Decision, Majority (Kickboxing Bout)
Bout 2: Seiichrio Ito def. Kunta Hashimoto via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 2) (MMA Bout)
Bout 3: Yuki Ito def. Yusaku Nakamura via TKO, Strikes (RD 1) (MMA Bout)
Bout 4: Yoshinari Nadaka def. Naoki Ishikawa via TKO, Strikes (RD 1) (Kickboxing Bout)
Bout 5: Rikuto Shirakawa def. Takuya Yamamoto via TKO, Strikes (RD 1) (MMA Bout)
Bout 6: Daisuke Nakamura def. Suguru Nii via Submission, Armbar (RD 1) (MMA Bout)
Bout 7: Akira def. Daichi Abe via Submission, North-South Choke (RD 2) (MMA Bout)
Bout 8: Masanori Kanehara def. Takahiro Ashida via TKO, Strikes (RD 2) (MMA Bout)
Bout 9: Tsuyoshi Sudario def. SAINT via TKO, Strikes (RD 1) (MMA Bout)
Bout 10: Saori Oshima def. Kanna Asakura via Decision, Split (MMA Bout)
Bout 11: Juntaro Ushiku def. Yutaka Saito via TKO, Doctor Stoppage (RD 2) (RIZIN Featherweight Championship) (MMA Bout)
Josh Emmett vs. Dan Ige Set For UFC 269
Featherweights Josh Emmett and Dan Ige are expected to fight at UFC’s December 11th pay-per-view event, per a report from Cole Shelton of BJPenn.com.
Ige’s last fight was a headliner against The Korean Zombie. The fight didn’t go his way, as he went five rounds to a unanimous decision loss.
The ranked featherweight earned a quick win earlier in the year, stopping Gavin Tucker in just 22 seconds with strikes.
Emmett has been on a strong run in the division for the past few years. He is currently on a three-fight winning streak that first started in 2019.
Emmett will be making somewhat of a return, as he has been out of action since June 2020. His last win came up against Shane Burgos, who he defeated via unanimous decision.
A Look At The Week Ahead
There’s a lot of MMA events this week, and they’re spread throughout the days. This week includes PFL’s Grand Finals, a numbered UFC card, a live ONE Championship event, and more.
Tuesday
Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 5 Episode 9
The second-last episode of this year’s “Dana White’s Contender Series” season will air on Tuesday. This week includes a strong amount of representation China, as prospects Xiao Long, Yan Qihui and Xie Bin are all set to compete. In the main event, undefeated middleweight Gadzhi Omargadzhiev will take on Brazilian finisher Jansey Silva.
Location: UFC APEX, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Main Card (8:00PM EDT / 5:00PM PDT) (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass Canada)
Bout 6: Jansey Silva (7-1) vs. Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (12-0) (Middleweight)
Bout 5: Christian Quinonez (15-3) vs. Xiao Long (16-6) (Bantamweight)
Bout 4: Javid Basharat (10-0) vs. Oron Kahlon (16-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Yan Qihui (11-3) vs. Karine Silva (13-4) (Flyweight)
Bout 2: Manuel Torres (11-2) vs. Kolton Englund (9-3) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Olivier Murad (5-0) vs. Xie Bin (8-2) (Featherweight)
Wednesday
2021 PFL Championship
PFL will hold their most stacked event of the year on Wednesday night, as they will crown six champions to end their season.
After six regular season events and three previous playoff shows, the grand finals for the 2021 PFL season are set. Each championship winner on Wednesday night is expected to take home a grand prize of $1 million. In the main event, Kayla Harrison will attempt to become a two-time champ when facing Taylor Guardado.
The undercard will also see the PFL debut of former UFC fighter Don Madge and former Bellator Featherweight Champion Julia Budd, as they will both compete in non-tournament bouts.
Location: Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood, Florida, USA
Main Card (8:00PM EDT) (ESPN2 / TSN 5)
Bout 10: Kayla Harrison (11-0) vs. Taylor Guardado (3-1) (PFL Lightweight Championship)
Bout 9: Magomed Magomedkerimov (29-5) vs. Ray Cooper III (23-7-1) (PFL Welterweight Championship)
Bout 8: Claressa Shields (1-0) vs. Abigail Montes (2-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 7: Movlid Khaybulaev (18-0-1) vs. Chris Wade (20-6) (PFL Featherweight Championship)
Bout 6: Bruno Cappelozza (13-5) vs. Ante Delija (19-4) (PFL Heavyweight Championship)
Preliminary Card (4:30PM EDT) (ESPN+ / TSN Bonus)
Bout 5: Antonio Carlos Junior (12-5) vs. Marthin Hamlet (8-2) (PFL Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 4: Loik Radzhabov (15-3-1) vs. Raush Manfio (14-3) (PFL Lightweight Championship)
Bout 3: Omari Akhmedov (21-6-1) vs. Jordan Young (11-2) (Middleweight)
Bout 2: Julia Budd (15-3) vs. Kaitlin Young (12-11-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Don Madge (9-3-1) vs. Nathan Williams (13-7) (Lightweight)
Friday
ONE Championship: NextGen
ONE Championship will hold the first of three “NextGen” events on Friday morning. The live six-fight card includes a kickboxing title fight and the continuation of their 115-pound Grand Prix.
Roman Kryklia will attempt to defend his ONE Kickboxing Championship for the second time in the main event. He faces Iraj Azizpour, who is stepping in on short notice to replace Murat Aygun.
Location: Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore
Main Card (8:30AM EDT / 8:30PM SGT) (Bleacher Report Live / Youtube)
Bout 6: Roman Kryklia vs. Iraj Azizpour (ONE Kickboxing Light Heavyweight Championship) (265 lbs)
Bout 5: Stamp Fairtex (6-1) vs. Julie Mezabarba (9-2-1) (ONE MMA Atomweight Grand Prix) (115 lbs)
Bout 4: Itsuki Hirata (5-0) vs. Ritu Phogat (6-1) (ONE MMA Atomweight Grand Prix) (115 lbs)
Bout 3: Kirill Grishenko (4-0) vs. Dustin Joynson (6-0) (265 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Bout 2: Miao Li Tao (6-4) vs. Jeremy Miado (9-4) (125 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Bout 1: Beybulat Isaev vs. Bogdan Stoica (265 lbs) (Kickboxing Bout)
UFC 267: Blachowicz vs. Teixeira
UFC will present a big event this weekend that comes at a surprisingly low price for U.S. viewers. While the promotion’s numbered event series is usually presented on pay-per-view, this week’s show will happen on subscription service ESPN+. The same cannot be said for other markets, as Canada for example will still be offered the event exclusively via PPV.
The strong card will start at an early time, with prelims in the morning and the main card starting at mid-afternoon.
In the main event, Jan Blachowicz will put his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship on the line against veteran Glover Teixeira. The title fight sees Teixeira, 41, possibly get his last chance as a pro to become champion. He became an unavoidable contender in recent years, stringing together an impressive five-fight winning streak since 2019.
Blachowicz defended his title for the first time in March, defeating 185-pound champ Israel Adesanya.
The co-main event will see former champ Petr Yan face Cory Sandhagen for an interim bantamweight belt. Yan was originally set to face UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling, but changes were made to the lineup after Sterling had to withdraw from the card.
Location: Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Main Card (2:00PM EDT / 10:00PM GST) (ESPN+ / PPV In Canada)
Bout 15: Jan Blachowicz (28-8) vs. Glover Teixeira (32-7) (UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 14: Petr Yan (15-2) vs. Cory Sandhagen (14-3) (Vacant Interim UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 13: Islam Makhachev (20-1) vs. Dan Hooker (21-10) (Lightweight)
Bout 12: Alexander Volkov (33-9) vs. Marcin Tybura (22-6) (Heavyweight)
Bout 11: Li Jingliang (18-6) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (9-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 10: Magomed Ankalaev (15-1) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (17-5) (Light Heavyweight)
Preliminary Card (10:30AM EDT / 6:30PM GST) (ESPN+ / TSN 5)
Bout 9: Amanda Ribas (10-2) vs. Virna Jandiroba (17-2) (Strawweight)
Bout 8: Zubaira Tukhugov (19-5-1) vs. Ricardo Ramos (15-3) (Featherweight)
Bout 7: Albert Duraev (14-3) vs. Roman Kopylov (8-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 6: Michal Oleksiejczuk (15-4) vs. Shamil Gamzatov (14-0) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 5: Makwan Amirkhani (16-6) vs. Lerone Murphy (10-0-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 4: Hu Yaozong (3-2) vs. Andre Petroski (6-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 3: Damir Ismagulov (23-1) vs. Magomed Mustafaev (14-4) (Lightweight)
Bout 2: Tagir Ulanbekov (12-1) vs. Allan Nascimento (18-5) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Elizeu Zaleski (22-7) vs. Benoit Saint-Denis (8-0) (Welterweight)
CFFC 102: Burrell vs. Stewart
After UFC wraps up in the early evening, U.S. regional promotion CFFC will present a short card from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. In the main event, veteran Nah-shon Burrell will wager a three-fight winning streak against fellow former UFC fighter Kyle Stewart.
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Main Card (8:00PM EDT) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 11: Nah-shon Burrell (18-11) vs. Kyle Stewart (14-4) (Middleweight)
Bout 10: Bassil Hafez (6-3-1) vs. Jakob Scheffel (5-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 9: Isa Dalipaj (3-0) vs. Jose Perez (4-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 8: Ryan Rizco (4-1) vs. Yanal Ashmoz (5-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 7: Ben Coyle (1-1) vs. Will Spann III (0-0) (Flyweight)
Bout 6: Thad Jean (1-0) vs. Tommy Majeski (2-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 5: David Gladfelter (1-0) vs. Gordon Wigington (0-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 4: Luke Fernandez (3-0) vs. Cody Lewis (3-1) (Vacant CFFC Amateur Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 3: Jerry Lleshi (3-0) vs. Bryce Layme (2-1) (Vacant CFFC Amateur Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 2: Dymere Rappa (1-1) vs. Nick Galanti (2-0) (Amateur Light Heavyweight)
Riley Palmer (2-0) vs. Devin Maldonado (N/A) (Amateur Bantamweight)
Quick Jabs
UAE Warriors Makes UFC Fight Pass Debut: United Arab Emirates-based MMA promotion UAE Warriors will make their debut on online subscription service UFC Fight Pass this weekend, presenting a show on Thursday and Friday night.
Undefeated Korean Prospects Collide on Halloween: Korean MMA promotion Road FC will hold another one of their spin-off ARC events on Sunday. In the main event, bantamweights prospects Lee Jung-hyun and Choi Sergei will battle.
Stay Connected
Twitter: @JackWannan - Follow the site: @KnockdownNews
Reading this update on a browser? Sign up for free with your email to get the newsletter sent to you right as it drops!