Fight Facts: Rizin 32

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: 337
TOTAL NUMBER OF RIZIN EVENTS: 36

Rizin Fighting Federation delivered an event largely devoid of relevance in weight class but chock full of exciting action. With a show packed with aging fighters, those in the twilights of their careers still tried to make statements to prove they were not finished yet. Rizin 32 featured the coronation of a new Rizin chief recordholder, a part-timer coming back after a nearly 14-year layoff and a poor choice that led to a competitor getting hoisted with his own petard.

Why Bother: Of the 10 MMA fights that took place throughout Rizin 32, four took place in internationally recognized weight categories. The rest were held at catchweights of 110, 128, 158 and 162 pounds. No Rizin show had ever seen this many MMA fights outside of standard weight classes.

Age Is More Than Just a Number: Three competitors throughout the course of the evening clocked in above the age of 45: Miyuu Yamamoto, Bobby Ologun and Lopez Satsuma in kickboxing. Ologun was the only one of the three to come out victorious.

Got You: In the rematch over five years in the making, Rena Kubota demolished Yamamoto with a knee and follow-up punches. When they first faced off at Rizin 2 in 2016, Kubota hit a guillotine choke on Yamamoto. All of Yamamoto’s wins have come by decision, while all her losses are by stoppage.

Rockstar Rena: The win in the Rizin 32 main event was the 11th for Kubota on the roster. She now claims the top spot among active Rizin fighters, and is tied all-time with Jiri Prochazka.

Chasing Jiri: Nine of Kubota’s 11 Rizin wins have come inside the distance. She breaks a tie with Kyoji Horiguchi for the second-most finishes in Rizin history. Prochazka’s 10 top that leaderboard.

Putting the Shoot in Shoot Boxing: For the seventh time in her 11 Rizin victories, Kubota knocked a foe out. She is now the recordholder for the most knockouts of any fighter currently competing under the Rizin banner. Prochazka maintains the top tally of this category as well, with nine knockouts during his time with Rizin.

The Beams of Rizin: Kubota has fought in 13 MMA matches with Rizin, placing herself one shy of two-time foe Kanna Asakura. Asakura has fought more times for Rizin than any other fighter, with 14 fights since debuting with the league in 2016.

Sorry Miyuu: Falling short to Kubota for the second time, Yamamoto suffered her sixth defeat with the organization. She now ties Satoru Kitaoka for the most in Rizin history.

Run It Back Again: In an all-out three-round battle, Yoshiro Maeda rematched Mitsuhisa Sunabe and won on the scorecards. The two first met at Pancrase: Hybrid 5 in May 2003, where Maeda won a decision there as well.

I Recently Saved a Drowning Person in the River: Ologun earned his first victory since December 2005 when he tapped Katsuya Kitamura with a rear-naked choke. When the 48-year-old from Nigeria last prevailed, only Maeda and Sunabe had made their professional debuts, while Rizin 32 kickboxer Ryoga Terayama was a month away from turning two.

What a Dramatic MMA: Clobbering Daryl Lokuku with one punch in the third round, Noah Bey earned the first win of his pro career in the process. Bey, a one-fight MMA vet, took on a 14-fight pro and pulled off the victory.

MMA Will Be Bigger Than Soccer: As he laid waste to Kohei Tokeshi with soccer kicks, Juri Ohara recorded the 13th soccer kick-related finish in Rizin history. In only 37 events, Rizin has now surpassed the quantity of all soccer kick knockouts in Pride Fighting Championships’ 68-show history.

A New Sensation: In 47 seconds, Yuichi Miyagi recorded the second knockout of his career when he smashed Tomohiro Adaniya with a knee. Although the 38-year-old has performed two knockouts across 17 wins, both occurred in under one minute.

Flyweights Always Have the Speed: The 47-second finish from the knee of the 125-pound Miyagi clocked in as the second-quickest knockout in Rizin’s flyweight history. Yuki Ito has the fastest, doing so in 33 seconds against Kohei Sugiyama at Rizin 27 in 2021.

Old-School Mentality: Shinya Kumazawa became the first fighter in company history to wear a martial arts gi into the ring to fight in an MMA match. Other fights had taken place with gis, but none under MMA rules.

My Own Attack: Tanner Lourenco used Kumazawa’s gi against him in their catchweight contest, when in the second round, he locked down a bow and arrow choke – also termed a collar choke – to submit Kumazawa and earn his first pro win. The choke is the first of its kind in major MMA history.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Rizin 32, Ologun had never performed a finish (four fights), Lokuku had never been knocked out (14 fights) and Mizuki Oshiro had never prevailed on the scorecards (seven fights).

Watermelon Heads: As she has done for most of her career, Kubota walked out to “Never Lose” by Asia Engineer. Singing the song all the way to the ring, she went on to tie the record for the most victories in company history shortly after selecting the tune.