It was not a good mixed martial arts (MMA) debut for a former kickboxer at RIZIN Fighting Federation’s New Year’s Eve fight card, Ryusei Ashizawa.
Olympic silver medalist Shinobu Ota made easy, violent work of kickboxer turned MMA fighter Ryusei Ashizawa last night (Sat., Dec. 30, 2023) at RIZIN 45 when he knocked him out after putting the kickboxer to sleep with a D’Arce choke from inside the famous Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Watch the crazy video below!
Ota had BAD intentions with this finish
Watch on @FITEtv ! https://t.co/eEpfmslhPp pic.twitter.com/0pEyxCuvba
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) December 31, 2023
The fight was not competitive at all, but that happens when the promotion matches up a kickboxer making his MMA debut with an Olympic wrestler. Ota took Ashizawa down within 30 seconds and then controlled him until he locked up his D’Arce choke and pounded him out because the referee did not notice Ashizawa was out.
Oh, and Ashizawa was randomly wearing UFC Venom shorts. Yikes.
Ota, 30, got back into the win column after suffering a split decision loss at RIZIN LANDMARK 6 in Nagoya. Ota claimed a silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling kg (130 lbs) at the 2016 Olympics. The Japanese fighter retired from wrestling in 2019 and then transitioned to MMA. He is currently 5-3.
Ashizawa, 28, has competed in kickboxing professionally since 2012, racking up a 25-14-1 record. Hopefully, he works on his takedown defense, but then again, maybe he shouldn’t be matched up against Olympic wrestlers.
RIZIN 45 is headlined by former UFC and Bellator fighter Kyoji Horiguchi and Makoto Shinryu in a rematch for the inaugural RIZIN Flyweight championship. The pair of fighters fought back in July at Bellator MMA vs. RIZIN 2, but the fight lasted 25 seconds due to an accidental eye poke, and it was deemed a no-contest.
Keep it locked at MMAMania.com for more RIZIN 45 highlights.