Mayweather Destroys Asakura, Kyoji Horiguchi Chokes Out ‘Kintaro’ in Rizin Doubleheader

Kyoji Horiguchi may have had a rough patch in Bellator MMA over the last year, but he served notice to Rizin’s bantamweights that he is still the man to beat.

Horiguchi (29-5) bounced back from back-to-back losses against Sergio Pettis and Patrick Mix in the Bellator cage with a win over Yuto Hokamura in the Rizin 38 headliner on Saturday night. He may have reestablished his supremacy over the division with the second-round submission of “Kintaro,” but the win was not without adversity.

The opening round saw Hokamura drop Horiguchi with a clean left hand while countering a flying knee, a favor that Horiguchi returned with a knockdown of his own later in the round. Horiguchi landed a sensational double-leg takedown early in Round 2, and from there he truly went to work. He moved to half guard, set up and arm-triangle choke and applied a crushing squeeze. After a few tense seconds of struggle, Horiguchi insisted to referee Masato Fukuda that Hokamura was unconscious, and it proved to be true, as the champ hopped up to celebrate while his fallen opponent was attended by medical staff and cornermen.

Super Atomweight Semifinals: Izawa Taps out Svetkivska

A thrown-together matchup ended in a rousing fight, as Rizin super atomweight champ Seika Izawa met Anastasiya Svetkivska—who lost to Rena Kubota in the quarterfinals but replaced her when Kubota withdrew with an injury—in the first tournament semifinal. The Ukrainian’s advantages in height and reach availed her little on the feet, as Izawa changed levels within the first 30 seconds and took her down with ease. Izawa went to work immediately, but Svetkivska survived and then some, wrapping the champ up in her spidery guard and keeping her on the defensive with constant positional changes and submission attempts. By the end of the round Svetkivska was the clear aggressor despite having spent nearly the entire five minutes on her back. They picked up right where they left off in Round 2, going to the mat right away and engaging in a furious series of scrambles and transitions. Late in the round, Izawa held Svetkivska in a loose triangle, then transitioned to an armbar at the 10-second warning, cranking for the tap just moments before the bell. The finish came officially at 4:56, leaving Izawa undefeated at 8-0, while Svetkivska falls to 2-2 but may actually have elevated her stock in defeat.

Super Atomweight Semifinals: Park Batters Hamasaki

In the first grand prix semifinal, Si Woo Park (9-4) used speed, power and excellent takedown defense to bust up Ayaka Hamasaki (24-6) on the way to a unanimous decision. A tense first round was characterized by Hamasaki’s attempts to bring the fight to the ground, which were unsuccessful outside of a few brief moments, in contrast to Park’s quick counter punching and effective low kicks. The same dynamic held true in Round 2, but the momentum seemed to be swinging gradually in favor of the Korean, especially after a flurry before the bell that left Hamasaki stumbling. There was no question of momentum in the final round, however, as Park dropped Hamasaki with a big right cross in the first minute. Hamasaki scrambled to her feet immediately, but the slow-motion rout was on: Park eluded Hamasaki with increasing ease, while smashing her lead leg and damaging one arm with strikes. The “Korean Queen Bee” will carry a four-fight win streak into the tournament final, while longtime atomweight queen and pound-for-pound stalwart Hamasaki finds herself at age 40 on a 1-3 stretch in her last four.

Kim Upsets Ougikubo

In his Rizin debut,