RIZIN 49: Emotional Kleber Koike recaptures featherweight title in Saitama

RIZIN Fighting Federation continued their New Year’s Eve tradition as they celebrated the new year with a spectacular night of fights at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

RIZIN 49 featured a triple-header of title fights at the sharp end of a huge 22-fight card, as Kleber Koike recaptured the featherweight title he never lost in the ring by defeating defending champion Chihiro Suzuki in the main event of the evening.

Koike was stripped of the title before RIZIN 43 in June 2023 after missing weight for his title defence against Suzuki, and his armbar win over the Japanese contender was reverted to a no contest. Suzuki went on to earn a shot at the vacant title with a massive knockout win over Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull at Super RIZIN 2 the following month, and won the belt with a first-round finish of Vugar Karamov at RIZIN Landmark 7 in Azerbaijan.

Chihiro Suzuki and Kleber Koike — RIZIN FF

Suzuki went on to retain his title with another first-round finish as he stopped Masanori Kanehara to set up the rematch with Koike, but in a fight that tested both men to the limit, it was Koike who ran out the victor as he reclaimed the belt with a gritty performance over three hard rounds.

Suzuki started in typically aggressive style as he quickly established his striking with solid punches and leg kicks from the outside, but Koike was waiting for his moment, and with two minutes of the round remaining, the Brazilian shot in for a takedown and got his reward.

With the fight on the mat, Koike moved from his back into Suzuki’s half-guard as he looked to work his way to a first-round submission. But Suzuki kept him honest with strikes from the bottom, but Koike fell back into an attempted heel hook that had the champion in trouble. But some nasty heel kicks helped keep him out of fight-ending danger as he avoided a submission before the bell.

Koike took control with his grappling in the second round as he neutralised Suzuki’s striking with his submission game by keeping him on his back. It meant that Suzuki needed something big in the final round, and, as 2024 became 2025 in a thrilling final frame, he let fly at Koike and busted up the Brazilian with ground strikes. But, while he was taking damage from the champion, Koike went for the finish and locked up an armbar, then a triangle choke, as he pushed for the stoppage win.

Remarkably, Suzuki escaped both, but in doing so he ended up on his back taking ground and pound from the determined challenger, who looked to put a final exclamation point on his performance as he locked up an arm-triangle choke as the bell rang.

It meant the judges were called into action to decide the winner, and all three scored the fight for Koike, who reclaimed the title in an emotional moment for the Brazilian.

In the co-main event, Japanese flyweight superstar Kyoji Horiguchi retained his RIZIN FF flyweight title with a unanimous decision victory over former EFC champion Zkazimulo Zulu.

Horiguchi apologised to the crowd after his victory, saying it was a bad performance, but he received the applause of the Saitama crowd as he left the ring with the championship belt around his waist after battling through adversity to retain his title.

Zulu hurt Horiguchi twice with big punches during the title clash, but the South African had no answer to Horiguchi’s all-around MMA game as Horiguchi mixed up his martial arts to earn a unanimous decision from the three ringside judges.

The first title fight of the night saw Koike’s teammate and longtime RIZIN FF fan-favourite, Roberto Satoshi Souza, claim a first-round triangle choke submission of Azerbaijan’s former featherweight title challenger Vugar Karamov as he retained his lightweight title in style with the 11th submission win of his career.

Part 1 of the RIZIN 49 card saw Kyrgyzstani featherweight extend his unbeaten record with a dominant performance as he claimed a second-round finish of Yuta Kubo, while Kazakh finisher Karshyga Dautbek claimed his ninth straight win with a unanimous decision victory over Ya-Man.

The card also featured American flyweight Jose “Shorty” Torres, with the former IMMAF amateur champion and ex-BRAVE CF flyweight champ claiming a hard-earned split-decision win over top Japanese flyweight Makoto Shinryu after three well-contested rounds.

Rukiya Anpo vs. Sina Karimian — RIZIN FF

Earlier in the night, the RIZIN Bangaichi card featured a host of bouts under various rulesets, headlined by a wild boxing match between Japanese kickboxing star Rukiya Anpo and Iranian former K-1 cruiserweight world champion Sina Karimian.

Karimian entered the bout with a reputation for being a rule-breaker, and he lived up to that moniker as he engaged in a wild brawl with Anpo that saw the referee struck twice by Karimian punches as the official tried to break up the melee.

Eventually, the hugely entertaining bout, which didn’t quite manage to remain within the bounds of the Queensberry Rules at points, went to Anpo, who claimed the unanimous decision victory.

RIZIN 49: Official results

RIZIN 49: PART 2

Kleber Koike def. Chihiro Suzuki via unanimous decision – for featherweight title
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Zkazimulo Zulu via unanimous decision – for flyweight title
Roberto Satoshi Souza def. Vugar Karamov via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1 – for lightweight title
Seika Izawa def. Lucia Apdelgarim via submission (triangle armbar) – Round 1
Yuki Motoya def. Kyoma Akimoto via unanimous decision

RIZIN 49: PART 1

Razhabali Shaidulloev def. Yuta Kubo via TKO (ground strikes) – Round 2
Karshyga Dautbek def. Ya-Man via unanimous decision
Ryuya Fukuda def. Ryusei Ashizawa via knockout – Round 1
Mikio Ueda def. Tae in Kim via knockout (knee) – Round 2
Jose Torres def. Makoto Shinryu via split decision
Taisei Sakuraba def. Yusuke Yachi via TKO (punches) – Round 1
Koji Takeda def. Suguru Nii via technical decision (low blow)
King Edokpolo def. Takakenshin via TKO (knee and punches) – Round 1
Genji Umeno def. Taiga via unanimous decision
Sanou Yokouchi def. Kenshin Saito via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1 – Rizin Koshien Final

RIZIN BANGAICHI