‘Suga’ Show Lands In Japan

O’Malley is making multiple appearances at RIZIN FF’s big New Year’s Eve event, proving the UFC relationship with the Japanese promotion is only growing.

Former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley has arrived in Japan, where he’s being welcomed by Rizin Fighting Federation leading into their big ‘Decade’ New Year’s Eve show.

This “Suga” X Rizin collab is just the latest sign of growing relations between the UFC and Japan’s biggest MMA promotion. Just a few weeks ago, Rizin sent their former bantamweight champion Kai Asakura to America to fight for the flyweight title at UFC 310. Now UFC is sending Sean O’Malley to Japan for a promotional piggy back on the promotion’s biggest card of the year.

The festivities started with a fan Q&A, which Rizin founder Nobuyuki Sakakibara said went very well. We’ve heard reports that O’Malley expressed serious interest in fighting in Japan. The UFC is all about site fees these days … could fighter fees for special events be too far behind?

The next stop is a ‘talk show’ on the ‘Sean O’Malley Special State’ at the community arena attached to Saitama Super Arena. That’s at 2:15PM local time … come for the “Suga,” stick around til 5PM for ‘Rizin Fighters serving free pork soup.’ Between that and the sponsor food trucks, it sounds like a delicious time.

Business may be cooking up between UFC and Rizin as well. Over the years, former PRIDE FC president Sakakibara has built Rizin FF into a very well performing promotion. Unlike a lot of other promotions out there, Rizin actually sells a lot of tickets, and they’ve managed to build up a pay-per-view platform that moves a lot of units per event.

The fundamentals of Rizin’s business are extremely good, and Sakakibara understands the market like only someone with 25 years in combat sports could. As combat sports in Japan heads into what looks like another boom cycle, he’s positioned himself once again to be at the head of things.

The UFC hasn’t tried to ‘crack’ Japan since buying PRIDE in 2007 and then shutting it down after realizing the whole scene had enough Yakuza ties to get the Fertittas’ Nevada casino license revoked. That opens things up for them to be friendly with Rizin, and perhaps even partners in some form? What that will look like in 2025 is anyone’s guess at this point, but it’s clear the relationship is blossoming.