“All the guys on TMT, they’re nice guys, but they’re just big. That’s all.”
Super RIZIN was nothing more than a good old time for Koji “Kouzi” Tanaka.
The kickboxing superstar picked up an entertaining exhibition victory in the night’s co-main event — a freakshow fight of the highest order. Standing in Kouzi’s way was an absolute combat sports newcomer, Floyd Mayweather’s bodyguard, Ray “Jizzy Mack” Sadeghi.
Kouzi knew what the fight was as soon as he signed up for it, so it was all about going in there and simply having a good time.
“I consider this as a party,” Kouzi told MMA Mania on BROADENED HORIZIN. “It was a big party, it’s Super RIZIN, you know? I didn’t consider this combat sport, I didn’t consider it as competition. This was a straight-up brawl and I took this fight and headed into it as a brawl. As a result, I think I’m the only Japanese person to beat somebody affiliated with The Money Team (TMT), so that makes me feel good.”
The finish came early into round three for Kouzi (watch highlights). Significantly smaller than his American counterpart, who weighed north of 200 pounds to Kouzi’s 135ish range, Jizzy managed to survive a late scare in the second round. If it weren’t for his size and toughness, that likely would have been a wrap for the TMT man, if not sooner.
“Originally, I wanted to finish him in the first round, but I kind of hesitated because he was a lot bigger than I anticipated,” Kouzi said. “When we actually met him in the ring, he was so much bigger. I wanted to finish in the first round, but I couldn’t.
“He was a lot better than I anticipated,” he continued. “Obviously, the skillsets are different. I have a much better skillset, but he was better than I thought he would be. He was tough and he was big — much bigger than I anticipated.”
Still, as legit of a kickboxer as they come, Kouzi (31-16-2, 1 no contest) likes the idea of continuing to be a prizefighter to the best of his ability with these wild and unique types of fights. He doesn’t have an idea when he’d like to get back in action, but continuing to take out TMT on his way to an eventual Mayweather boss-fight sounds like a dream come true to the Osaka, Japan native.
“Ultimately, it would be nice to face Floyd Mayweather,” Kouzi said. “Because all the guys on TMT, they’re nice guys, but they’re just big. That’s all. I didn’t feel any skill from them. They’re just big Americans. So, eventually, I would want Floyd Mayweather, but meanwhile, I want to take those big guys without any skills out one-by-one and hopefully, I get the big boss.”
Watch the full episode in the video embedded above or you can listen on Spotify.