On Sunday, May 6, Rizin Fighting Federation held its first event of the year in the promotion’s second trip to the Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan, for Rizin 10.
Japan’s best MMA fighter today, Kyoji Horiguchi, continued to set out to prove his worth on the world stage when he took on the former consensus No.1 flyweight in the world, Ian McCall. The UFC veterans were expected to meet in the semifinals of the 2017 bantamweight grand prix, but McCall’s string of bad luck continued outside of the Octagon when he was seemingly cut open from the ring ropes in his quarterfinal match-up with Portuguese prospect Manel Kape. Horiguchi went on to submit Kape and knock out King of Pancrase champion Shintaro Ishiwatari to win the tournament.
In the co-headliner of the evening, teenage kickboxing phenom Tenshin Nasukawa returned to the ring against World Series of Fighting Global flyweight champion Yusaku Nakamura. The 19-year-old super prospect Nasukawa had defeated all 29 opponents in his pro career across MMA, kickboxing and Muay Thai rules, including 23 victories by way of stoppage. The hard-hitting Kenpo stylist Nakamura had his 10-fight winning streak stopped in his last bout, which took place in October.
In the night’s other main-card action, 2017 women’s atomweight grand prix winner Kanna Asakura took on former King of the Cage women’s atomweight champ Melissa Sophia Karagianis, former Invicta FC and Jewels titleholder Ayaka Hamasaki made her Rizin debut against Josh Barnett disciple Alyssa Garcia, and top Japanese lightweight Yusuke Yachi battled UFC and Bellator veteran Diego “The Gun” Nunes.
The event aired live at 1:30 a.m. ET on Combat Press via Fite TV.
Kickboxing: Tenshin Nasukawa def. Yusaku Nakamura by TKO (referee stoppage). Round 2
Kanna Asakura def. Melissa Sophia Karagianis by unanimous decision
Yusuke Yachi def. Diego Nunes by split decision
Daron Cruickshank def. Koshi Matsumoto by knockout (left head kick). Round 1
Kickboxing: Issei Ishii def. Daishin Sakai by unanimous decision
Kai Asakura def. Manel Kape by split decision
Ayaka Hamasaki def. Alyssa Garcia by unanimous decision
Ante Delija def. Ricardo Prasel by unanimous decision
Jair Rozenstruik def. Andrey Kovalev by split decision
Kanako Murata def. Lanchana Green by submission (anaconda choke). Round 1
Kickboxing: Hironori Kurogi vs. Tomohiro Kitai ends in split draw