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Shaidullaev proved once again that he is one of the very best
fighters outside of the
UFC. The undefeated Kyrgyz finisher mauled Japanese superstar
Mikuru
Asakura en route to a violent first-round TKO victory in the
Rizin Fighting Federation ‘Shiwasu no Cho Tsuwamono Matsuri’
main event in Saitama, Japan.
Razhabali Shaydullaev KNOCKOUT Mikuru
Asakura IN ROUND 1
#RIZIN📷📷
#RIZIN10周年📷📷
#RIZIN師走の超強者祭り📷📷#UFC
pic.twitter.com/gYhUqo4qBl— The Combat Sport Poll Guy (@PollGuyUFC)
December 31, 2025
Shaidullaev (16-0, 6-0 Rizin), the reigning
Rizin featherweight champion, put his title on the line
Wednesday against Asakura (19-6, 1 NC; 13-5 Rizin), whose
supporters made up a significant portion of the more than 45,000
fans in attendance at Saitama Super Arena. Those fans left
disappointed, however, as Shaidullaev tossed Asakura around from
the outset and finished him with strikes on the ground.
Following a series of suplexes, Shaidullaev put Asakura in a corner
and peppered him with punches before securing another takedown into
back control. He flattened Asakura out and immediately began to tee
off with punches to both sides of a defenseless Asakura’s head.
Asakura moved just enough to prevent the fight from being stopped,
but a final set of punches ended the bout at the 2:54 mark of Round
1.
【🔴LIVE】RIZIN 師走の超強者祭り
第15試合 フェザー級タイトルマッチラジャブアリ・シェイドゥラエフ vs. 朝倉未来
絶対王者の幻想か、悲願の王座戴冠か今宵ベルトを巻くのはー。
— ABEMA格闘 (@Abema_Fight)
December 31, 2025
Post-fight, Shaidullaev spoke about his desire to move up to
lightweight and become a two-division Rizin champion. With a 100%
finishing rate, including three straight wins for Rizin this year,
it is fair to say that Rizin will likely make an effort to keep
Shaidullaev busy in 2026 no matter which weight class he wishes to
compete in. Meanwhile, the defeated Asakura was removed from the
ring on a stretcher and wearing a neck brace, as the impact of the
final punches from Shaidullaev clearly did some significant
damage.
@samaroooont
thank you pic.twitter.com/KMI44Vb804— !zzy | イジ－ (@izzydoa_)
December 31, 2025
In the co-main event, Ilhom
Nazimov (13-3, 4-0 Rizin) needed only 13 seconds to capture the
Rizin lightweight title from Roberto
Satoshi de Souza (20-4, 13-3 Rizin). When de Souza ducked his
head while pursuing a takedown, Nazimov countered with a
perfectly-timed knee that sent de Souza crashing unconscious to the
mat. Even more impressive than Nazimov’s quick win is the fact that
he accomplished it on two weeks’ notice.
Hiromasa
Ougikubo (30-8-2, 12-5 Rizin) won the 2025 Rizin flyweight
grand prix and was crowned as the new Rizin flyweight champion by
defeating Yuki Motoya
(39-13, 1 NC; 14-9, 1 NC Rizin) in a rematch that was more than six
years in the making. Ougikubo edged out Motoya via split decision
in July 2019 and his performance in their return date was strong
enough to earn a more decisive victory on the scorecards.
Ougikubo bloodied Motoya’s nose with stiff jabs and lead left hooks
during the opening round. He landed more left hooks in the second
stanza and controlled the majority of the round, though Motoya did
connect with some sneaky uppercuts during the final minute. Motoya
pressed the action in the final round and used jabs to set up a
takedown. He punched from the top until Ougikubo got to his feet,
and that was when the action really kicked off. Ougikubo stunned
Motoya with left and right hooks, which opened more cuts on
Motoya’s face, but a bloody Motoya gamely fired back and both men
landed huge shots during a frantic final 30 seconds. Motoya’s
perseverance late in the fight was not enough to outweigh
Ougikubo’s damage dealt, and all three judges sided with Ougikubo
for a unanimous decision victory.
While it had its moments, the bantamweight title fight was the lone
blemish out of the five championship bouts on the card. Danny
Sabatello (17-4-1, 3-0 Rizin) racked up control time and did
just enough damage to wrestle the title away from Naoki Inoue
(20-5, 10-3 Rizin), who was unsuccessful in defense. When the fight
was on the feet, Inoue landed punches at will and easily avoided
the looping strikes from Sabatello, who was clearly at a
disadvantage in the standup exchanges. On the mat, however,
Sabatello took Inoue’s back and hunted for rear-naked chokes. Inoue
avoided danger and closed out the first two rounds with punches to
Sabatello’s face. In the final round, Sabatello used an anaconda
choke to get Inoue back down. He retained top position after a
scramble and then took Inoue down one more time later in the round.
Sabatello’s grappling was enough to earn the nod from two judges
and he prevailed via split decision.
Top P4P Talent Retains Title
In what developed into a grudge match following multiple
postponements and cancellations, the women’s super atomweight title
tilt between Seika Izawa
(18-0, 12-0 Rizin) and Rena Kubota
(15-6, 14-5 Rizin) was worth every minute of the wait and exceeded
expectations. Izawa, who had promised to destroy Kubota, was
instead very nearly knocked out by a left hook and follow-up
punches from Kubota early in the championship fight. Izawa was able
to recover, however, and she attempted an armbar that led to the
fighters returning to their feet. Izawa then took over in the
second half of the round and she landed punches and elbows from
mount after taking Kubota down. Kubota defended against a
rear-naked choke until the bell. The second round began with a
takedown from Izawa, who moved from a north-south choke into a
reverse guillotine choke, and then finally trapped Kubota in a
conventional guillotine choke in full guard. Kubota could not
escape and tapped out at the 1:58 mark of Round 2. Izawa did very
well to battle back and win, but this was the most adversity that
she has faced in her career.
Rounding out the main card, Kleber
Koike Erbst (35-9-1, 1 NC; 10-4, 1 NC Rizin) took a hard-fought
unanimous decision victory over Vugar
Karamov (21-7, 7-4 Rizin) in a battle between two former Rizin
featherweight champions. Karamov backed Koike into a corner with
punches and scored two body-lock takedowns in the first round. He
attacked Koike’s lead leg with calf kicks in Round 2, but Koike
took the fight to the ground and attempted a modified triangle
choke and a guillotine. The final round was Koike’s best, and
Karamov spent much of it stuck in triangle chokes. Koike also did
some damage with hammerfist strikes before the fight came to a
close. All three judges scored the bout for Koike, who rebounded
after losing his first two fights this year.
Prior to intermission, Ryuya
Fukuda (26-9-1, 4-1 Rizin) knocked out fellow veteran Tatsuya
Ando (16-5-1, 2-1 Rizin) with a right hook and follow-up
punches at the 3:02 mark of Round 2 in bantamweight action;
featherweight rising star Kyoma
Akimoto (11-1, 6-1 Rizin) floored Suguru Nii
(18-13, 2-6 Rizin) with a knee to the liver for a knockout win at
the 3:45 mark of Round 1; also at featherweight, Karshyga
Dautbek (18-3, 1 NC; 4-1, 1 NC Rizin) and Yuta Kubo
(5-2, 1 NC; 5-2, 1 NC Rizin) fought to a no contest at the 3:15
mark of Round 1 when Dautbek was poked badly in his eye and could
not continue; Makoto
Takahashi (21-5-1, 1 NC; 7-4 Rizin) posted a unanimous decision
win against Hiroya
Kondo (10-15-1, 3-5 Rizin) at flyweight; and Joji Goto
(19-8, 5-0 Rizin) narrowly defeated Jose Torres
(13-6-1, 1-2 Rizin) via split decision at bantamweight.
In other action, Tatsuki
Shinotsuka (1-1, 1-1 Rizin) knocked out Daichi
Tomizawa (2-2, 2-2 Rizin) with punches at the 3:22 mark of
Round 2 at flyweight; Pancrase champ Tatsuya
Saika (14-6, 1-3 Rizin) won his 161-pound catchweight bout
against Noah Bey (5-4,
3-4 Rizin) via head kick knockout at the 32-second mark of Round 2;
Ryoma
Shishimoto (3-0, 1-0 Rizin) submitted Ryusei
Ashizawa (2-4, 2-4 Rizin) with an armbar just 25 seconds into
their bantamweight contest; and Enzo
Massami Iamazato won his amateur flyweight Koshien MMA bout
against Yuri Suda via
technical submission due to a nasty armbar at the 3:15 mark of
Round 1.
