• Xenforo Cloud is upgrading us to version 2.3.8 on Monday February 16th, 2026 at 12:00 AM PST. Expect a temporary downtime during this process. More info here

Worldwide MMA Lounge Chat, v.1

Status
Not open for further replies.
wwkirk said:
Is it unusual for Rizin to try to get fighters into the UFC? If so, what makes this time special?
Click to expand...
It isn't really out of the ordinary for them. They're legitimately for the Japanese people, the few pieces of international exposure they've received were all low risk. Having Floyd on  their cards, their normal events that would have gone on without him and have been fine. The Floyd fights on the cards he was on weren't available to the States, so those fights weren't for us. Or having Bellator co-promote  their shows, in Saitama. Those were situations where they simply brought in international talents to put on a show for their Japanese viewership, but also basically low risk Western exposure, bc of Bellator's deal with Showtime, at the time. The only card they've put on outside of Japan, that was only bc they didnt foot the bill.

All of that said, they realize they're a regional show, they have no illusions that they're anything else. So when one of their fighters wants to move on to the world stage, they don't mind helping facilitate that. TTO already mentioned Jiri, I'm pretty sure they helped Kape get into the UFC as well. He'd just won their BW title and immediately went West. I presume there is still a degree of animosity between camps, over Sak tooling Dana on the PRIDE deal, but it's obvious that Dana still respects Sak as a talent scout (probably as a businessman, too, not a lot of people get over on Dana), and if he's coming to them like, "This guy is legit," he's going to listen. Especially guys who have been their champions, it's says a lot when the guy who you respect, who runs a "rival" org, is telling you, "Sign my champion." I imagine that he's involved with Guchi getting back in bc he's gonna try to get him paid.
 
wwkirk said:
Interesting. So, in certain cases they look towards what's best for a fighter's career?
Click to expand...
Ya. with Jiri he said he couldn't bring in enough quality opponents to keep him busy so it was for his best to move on. I think he got Bellator and UFC involved.

With Kyoji and Kai, I assume Kyoji is the same deal with no quality opponents and he is not getting younger, with Kai has beaten everyone in Japan. Ougikubo is staying at Flyweight it seems
 
Would love to see Kyoji Horiguchi back in the UFC fly weight division, but does he still have fights in Bellator even if free from Rizin?
 
Here is a top 10 countdown of the hottest female flyweight fighters in MMA:

 
  • Like
Reactions: Gio
Page front and center...

giphy.gif
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gio
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Kung Fu Kowboy
📢 Sherdog Heavies Weekly Discussion (UFC Paramount+)
4 5 6
Replies
106
Views
2K
FlyingDeathKick
FlyingDeathKick

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,281,530
Messages
58,373,474
Members
176,016
Latest member
50 caliber beer bottle

Share this page

Back
Top