The much talked new Japanese promotion where Fedor Emelianenko will be fighting has a name: Rizin Fighting Federation!
The former President of Pride, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, held a press conference today to announce his return to MMA with this new event.
The event, which had announced the return of Fedor even before it had an official name, will be titled Rizin Fighting Federation. The original planned name was Samurai Fighting Championship, but the name wasn’t pleasing to the directors and was changed at the last minute.
The President Nobuyuki Sakakibara commented on his expectations for his return to MMA. Sakakibara began by apologizing to the Japanese people for taking the Pride out of business and said that he will do anything to restore MMA in Japan. In addition, Sakakibara said that he will work over the next 10 years for this, but cannot promise that the event will be bigger than the UFC.
The promotion will hold three events in three days at the end of the year on Dec. 29, 30 and 31. The main event of the show on Dec. 29 is currently slated to be Shinya Aoki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba in a catchweight bout. All three events are expected to be held at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, with the hope that the Dec. 29 and 31 events will be televised locally on Fuji TV in Japan.
Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting is reporting that Fedor Emelianenko’s opponent for the event in Japan is kickboxer Jaideep Singh, 29 years of age. This Indian-Japanese heavyweight is 1-0 in MMA. In his only MMA fight, Singh beat Alireza Tavak via elbows in the first round. Tavak was 0-1 going into that fight, and has not fought since.
he has a solid kickboxing record of 40-10, with one No Contest, but hasn’t won a kickboxing fight in 4 years is on a three-fight losing streak.
BJJ world champion Gabi Garcia is set to make her much awaited MMA debut against a yet to named Chinese Judo champion.
The news of Rizin Fighting Federation is attracting many BJJ players in search of better condition than the UFC. Pride FC rules were more attractive for BJJ players because of the 10 minute first round and more time given for ground work. Word is that Andre Galvao and 2015 ADCC champion Orlando Sanchez could be part of the show.
Gabi Garcia standing next to Fedor. Good lord! pic.twitter.com/oOuw05gYQ5
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) October 8, 2015
