With Rizin 11 now in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to look ahead to Rizin 12 which takes place this Saturday night in Nagoya Japan.
No UFC this week, but #RIZIN12 Sunday at 2am EST… we’ll be there. pic.twitter.com/7GxXjJsCLb
— MiddleEasy (@MiddleEasy) August 7, 2018
In the main event of the evening the Japanese lightweight striking sensation Yusuke Yachi will be going into what can only be described as a brutal war with one of Brazil’s finest fight finishers in Luiz Gustavo.
The consensus underdog Gustavo manages to tout a perfect (8-0) record and has never had a fight go longer than ten minutes. He’s a ridiculously explosive MMA fighter, but due to his fights ending in such a quick and violent fashion it’s unknown how his cardio will hold in the later rounds. He has also never had to dig deep and pull off comebacks as he’s steamrolled everyone he has faced; so questions can be asked of his cardio and chin as neither have been tested.
As for the fan favourite; Yusuke Yachi he has a similar manner and demeanor to that of the UFCs Brain Ortega, he’s cool, calm and collected and will certainly have the hometown support in Nagoya during what is set to be an epic war. Yachi is (20-6) in pro mixed martial arts and has gone on a fascinating kill streak these past two years winning six fights in a row, most notably knocking out Rizin poster-boy Daron Cruickshank and submitting Japanese martial arts superstar Takanori Gomi in the first round within his run. Yachi is an all-round talent in all facets of martial arts but most recently has started finishing his fights with five of his last six fights not needing the scorecards.
Will Yachi continue his meteoric rise by crushing a rising prospect or will Gustavo show that he’s a genuine contender at the 145lb weight class?
In the co-main event of Rizin 12 Reina Muira (9-1) will be fighting ex-Invicta fighter Kaitlin Young (7-9-1) “King Reina” as she’s called is kind of a female bootleg Japanese version of Conor McGregor. Her career was off to an amazing start, she was (7-0) last year when she faced ex-UFC fighter Cindy Dandois; she looked to have a promising ground game and dynamic striking but ended up losing against Dandois on the scorecards in a lackluster fight. Since losing to Dandois she’s bounced back with two back to back first round finishes this year at Deep Jewels. (Japanese version of Invicta FC). Although her opponent Kaitlin Young doesn’t have a fancy fighting record; it’s worth noting she has faced far greater competition than what “King Reina” has seen. So maybe people are sleeping on Young’s chances and it’s more than possible that she pulls off the upset like Dandois did previously.
誰か名古屋でコーンロウとかドレッドできるところ知らないー？
名古屋にあるサロンさん教えてください！！#カラフル #ドレッド #コーンロウ
#名古屋美容院 pic.twitter.com/MLmbCV41E4— KINGレイナ👑公式 (@reina01707221) August 3, 2018
If you navigate down the card there’s also some intriguing match-ups like Roque Martinez VS Kiyoshi Kuwabara, Kuwabara goes by the eloquent nickname of “Samurai Mark Hunt” and is essentially a giant heavyweight unit who likes to go for broke in every fight. “Samurai Mark Hunts” biggest weakness lies in his ground game he has almost zero takedown defense; this is a giant problem against his opponent Roque Martinez who is a more well-rounded martial artist with four wins by knockout & four wins by submission. This fight is basically a heavyweight JMMA version of McGregor vs. Khabib with Kuwabara being a knockout artist and Martinez having a strong advantage on the ground.
The rest of the card isn’t as good as the above bouts but there’s plenty of can crushing matchups so if quick finishes are your thing you should tune in.
