not surprised they put Carwin on the opposite side of the bracket from CroCop/Silva.
Do you know if JIri withdrew because of a legit reason or because it was secretly agreed that JIri would be replaced by TK in order to boost ratings?
In my view Baruto vs Fujita, Baruto vs TK and Jiri's "strange" injury vs That Can he fought all indicate to me that they are trying to push Baruto through into the final
Moldavsky also gets an easy fight and will be a certain semi final contender
looking good - love a properly bracketed tournament
I think that RIZIN did a good job with how they planned the tournament brackets; they were going to do the showdown of legends in CC vs Wand, and the "young lions" fight between Baruto and Jiri, the two guys who they have been hyping heavily, to determine the number 1 RIZIN rising star.
This booking would also ensure that we get a semifinal between a legend and a prospect, with at least one of them a lock for the final (avoiding a low interest fight like Moldavsky vs Bajor as the New Year show main event).
Sakakibara knows that the (expensive) legends he can get wont be around forever and is trying to get a fighter who is more or less a RIZIN guy to take over the torch and be legitimized by beating a big name of the past. Basically the same thing JMMA has (unsuccessfully) tried to do since Sakuraba lost his shine.
They're banking on Jiri or Baruto primarily for this role, since Sakakibara knows that Fedor keeps his own guys in the same non commital career situation he's had himself post PRIDE, and the other potential candidates for the role lost when it counted/couldnt be consistently successful (Albrektsson, Aukstuolis, Singh).
They have also been promoting Aliakbari somewhat, but not as much as the other two, since its believed that he's using RIZIN as a platform to get into the UFC, and they are therefor reluctant to fully commit to him. Depending on how the tournament plays out and how negotiations go, he could still possibly turn into their top guy.
Jiri (re)injuring his knee kinda screwed up the planning; TK is an okay replacement in name value, but they know he's not gonna be a major face of the promotion at this point in his career, plus he doesnt have the marketability of Baruto (who's a star already) or Jiri (who they've been selling heavily as a "foreign samurai", the handsome gaijin with indomitable bushido spirit kinda guy).
So this tourney is pretty interesting from a brand building perspective as well.