King Mo! Woah. The self-proclaimed “money weight” fighter entered the RIZIN FF Heavyweight Grand Prix against very large men with giant muscles, including the 6-foot 4-inch Jiri Prochazka who Mo knocked out in the finals with a vicious right hook that sent the Czech fighter face-first to the canvas. Take a look.
The 34-year-old former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion went home with 40-million Yen, that seems to be about $332,000 in cash. Three fights in 48-hours. Two knockouts. And one king. And then Mo placed his crown on Rizin Fighting Federation founder and former Pride Fighting Championship President Nobuyuki Sakakibara, showing respect to the man who brought him back to Japan where he began his pro MMA career about eight years ago.
Crowning of the Champion #RizinFF #preciousmoments #nobuyukisakakibara * #Rizin GP Tournament #Final #Dec31 #Tokyo #Japan #saitama #Heavyweight #grandprix #Tournament #kingmozilla #champion * #DiveTeam: @venumofficial @southcoastmitsubishi @vaporfi @nutritionzone @lanaseggwhites @pain3_painaway @nearfallclothing A video posted by Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal (@kingmofh) on
Fedor Emelianenko made his return in the Day 2 main event, fighting for the first time in over three years against Indian kickboxer Jaideep Singh. Singh, who was only 2-0 as a pro MMA fighter, was totally out of his element on the ground and Fedor used his patented ground and pound to control and ultimately finish the 28-year-old (watch the full fight here).
There were other highlights like the Bob Sapp vs. Akebono and Gabi Garcia vs. Lei’D Tapa freakshows. Kron Gracie looked good in his submission win over Asen Yamamoto. And Shinya Aoki beat an old tired Sakuraba in the Day 1 main event.
Here’s the full Day 2 and Day 1 results from RIZIN Fighting Federation‘s inaugural event held at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
RIZIN Day 2 (Dec. 31st) results:
- Fedor Emelianenko def. Jaideep Singh via TKO (Strikes, Round 1)
- Muhammed Lawal def. Jiri Prochazka via KO (Strikes, Round 1)
- Kron Gracie def Asen Yamamoto via Submission (Triangle Choke, Round 1)
- Andy Souwer def. Yuichiro Nagashima via KO (Strikes, Round 1)
- Baruto Kaido def. Peter Aerts via unanimous decision
- Bob Sapp def. Akebono via technical decision (Shoot boxing rules)
- Gabi Garcia def. Lei’d Tapa via KO (Strikes, Round 1)
- Takeru def. Yang Ming via TKO (Ref stoppage, Round 2)
- Soo Chul Kim def. Maike Linhares via unanimous decision
- Brennan Ward def. Ken Hasegawa via Submission (RNC, Round 2)
- Jiri Prochazka def. Vadim Nemkov via TKO (Retirement, Round 1)
- Muhammed Lawal def. Teodoras Aukstuolis via unanimous decision
- RENA def. Jleana Valentino via Submission (Flying Armbar, Round 2)
RIZIN Day 1 (Dec. 29th) results:
Grand Prix Round 1
- Jiri Prochazka def. Satoshi Ishii via TKO (Knees, Round 1)
- Vadim Nemkov def. Goran Reljic via TKO (Strikes, Round 1)
- Teodoras Aukstuolis def. Bruno Cappelozza via KO (Strikes, Round 1)
- Muhammed Lawal def. Brett McDermott via KO (Strikes, Round 1)
- Valentin Moldavsky def. Yuta Uchida via Submission (RNC, Round 1)
Single Matches
- Shinya Aoki def. Kazushi Sakuraba via TKO (Strikes, Round 1)
- Hiroyuki Takaya def. DJ Taiki via unanimous decision
- Hideo Tokoro def. Kizaemon Saiga via Submission (Armbar, Round 1)
- Anatoly Tokov def. A.J. Matthews via KO (Punch, Round 1)
- Hinata Watanabe def. Kazuyuki Miyata via TKO (Three knockdown rule in K-1)
- Hiroya Kawabe def. Akiyo Nishiura via KO (Strikes, Round 3)
- Felipe Efrain def. Yuki Motoya via KO (Strikes, Round 1) *
- Kirill Sidelnikov def. Carlos Toyota via TKO (Strikes, Round 1)
*Efrain missed weight, so his win was overturned to a No Contest