# 2015 in Rizin Fighting Federation

The year 2015 was the first year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. Only two events were held this year, both consisting of the Rizin World Grand-Prix 2015. Rizin events are broadcast through a television agreement with Fuji Television.

## Background

On September 19, 2015 during Bellator 142 Dynamite 1 event, it was announced that Pride FC co-founder Nobuyuki Sakakibara had signed former Pride Heavyweight Champion The Last Emperor Fedor Emelianenko to headline his new promotion's New Year's Eve Show in Tokyo.
On October 8, 2015 The former President of Pride FC, Sakakibara held a press conference to announce his return to MMA with Rizin Fighting Federation.
Sakakibara returned to mainstream MMA, along with Nobuhiko Takada and other former Pride FC employees.
Rizin partnered with Bellator MMA to allow former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal to compete the Rizin's inaugural grand prix. Eventually, King Mo won the 8 man Heavyweight tournament with a prize of $300,000.

## List of events

| # | Event | Date | Venue | Location | Attendance |
| 1 | Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba | December 29, 2015 | Saitama Super Arena | Saitama, Japan | 12,214 |
| 2 | Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 2 - Iza | December 31, 2015 | Saitama Super Arena | Saitama, Japan | 18,365 |

## 100 Kg Heavyweight Grand-Prix bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| Muhammed Lawal | Muhammed Lawal | KO | | | | | | |
| Brett McDermott | Brett McDermott | 1r. | | | | | | |
| Brett McDermott | Brett McDermott | 1r. | Muhammed Lawal | Muhammed Lawal | DEC | | | |
| | | | Teodoras Aukštuolis | Teodoras Aukštuolis | 3r. | | | |
| Teodoras Aukštuolis | Teodoras Aukštuolis | KO | Teodoras Aukštuolis | Teodoras Aukštuolis | 3r. | | | |
| Bruno Cappelozza | Bruno Cappelozza | 1r. | | | | | | |
| Bruno Cappelozza | Bruno Cappelozza | 1r. | | | | Muhammed Lawal | Muhammed Lawal | KO |
| | | | | | | Jiří Procházka | Jiří Procházka | 1r. |
| Satoshi Ishii | Satoshi Ishii | 1r. | | | | | | | Jiří Procházka | Jiří Procházka | 1r. |
| Jiří Procházka | Jiří Procházka | KO | | | | | | |
| Jiří Procházka | Jiří Procházka | KO | Jiří Procházka | Jiří Procházka | TKO | | | |
| | | | Vadim Nemkov | Vadim Nemkov | 1r. | | | |
| Goran Reljić | Goran Reljić | 1r. | Vadim Nemkov | Vadim Nemkov | 1r. | | | |
| Vadim Nemkov | Vadim Nemkov | KO | | | | | | |

## Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba

Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba was an inaugural mixed martial arts event held by the Rizin Fighting Federation on December 29, 2015 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

### Results

Fight Card :
| Weight Class | | | | Method | Round | Time | Notes |
| Welterweight 77 kg | Shinya Aoki | def. | Kazushi Sakuraba | TKO (Corner Stoppage) | 1 | 5:56 | |
| Grand-Prix 100 kg | Jiří Procházka | def. | Satoshi Ishii | KO (Knees) | 1 | 1:36 | RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Quarter-Finals |
| Grand-Prix 100 kg | Vadim Nemkov | def. | Goran Reljić | KO (Punches) | 1 | 2:58 | RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Quarter-Finals |
| Grand-Prix 100 kg | Teodoras Aukštuolis | def. | Bruno Cappelozza | KO (Punches) | 1 | 4:32 | RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Quarter-Finals |
| Grand-Prix 100 kg | Muhammed Lawal | def. | Brett McDermott | KO (Punches) | 1 | 9:10 | RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Quarter-Finals |
| Grand-Prix 100 kg | Valentin Moldavsky | def. | Yuta Uchida | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | 1 | 2:20 | RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Reserve Fight |
| Featherweight 66 kg | Hiroyuki Takaya | def. | Daiki Hata | Decision (Unanimous) | 3 | 20:00 | |
| Bantamweight 61 kg | Hideo Tokoro | def. | Kizaemon Saiga | Submission (Armbar) | 1 | 5:16 | |
| Middleweight 84 kg | Anatoly Tokov | def. | A.J. Matthews | TKO (Punches) | 1 | 0:55 | |
| K-1 Lightweight 70 kg | Hinata | def. | Kazuyuki Miyata | TKO (3 knockdowns) | 1 | 2:14 | |
| K-1 Featherweight 66 kg | Hiroya | def. | Akiyo Nishiura | KO (Punches) | 3 | 7:20 | |
| Flyweight 57 kg | Felipe Efrain | def. | Yuki Motoya | No Contest | 1 | 5:45 | Originally a 1st round TKO win by Efrain. Ends in a No Contest, Efrain Missed Weight. |
| Heavyweight 120 kg | Kirill Sidelnikov | def. | Carlos Toyota | TKO (Punches) | 1 | 2:23 | |
| Heavyweight 120 kg | Tsuyoshi Kosaka | def. | James Thompson | TKO (Punches) | 2 | 11:58 | |

## Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 2 - Iza

Rizin World Grand Prix 2015: Part 2 - Iza was a mixed martial arts event held by the Rizin Fighting Federation on December 31, 2015 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

### Results

Fight Card :
| Weight Class | | | | Method | Round | Time | Notes |
| Grand-Prix 100 kg | Muhammed Lawal | def. | Jiří Procházka | KO (Punches) | 1 | 5:09 | RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Final |
| Heavyweight 120 kg | Fedor Emelianenko | def. | Singh Jaideep | TKO（Punches） | 1 | 3:02 | |
| Featherweight 66 kg | Kron Gracie | def. | Erson Yamamoto | Submission (Triangle Choke) | 1 | 4:58 | |
| Catchweight 72.5 kg | Andy Souwer | def. | Yuichiro Nagashima | KO (Punches) | 1 | 5:28 | |
| Openweight | Baruto Kaito | def. | Peter Aerts | Decision (Unanimous) | 3 | 9:00 | |
| Shootboxing 100+ kg | Bob Sapp | def. | Akebono Tarō | Decision (Unanimous) | 3 | 15:00 | |
| Female Light Heavyweight 93 kg | Gabrielle Garcia | def. | Lei'D Tapa | TKO (Referee Stoppage) | 1 | 2:36 | |
| K-1 Flyweight 57 kg | Takeru | def. | Yang Ming | TKO (Referee Stoppage) | 2 | 6:00 | |
| Bantamweight 61 kg | Soo Chul Kim | def. | Maike Linhares | Decision (Unanimous) | 3 | 20:00 | |
| Catchweight 81 kg | Brennan Ward | def. | Ken Hasegawa | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | 2 | 11:52 | |
| Grand-Prix 100 kg | Jiří Procházka | def. | Vadim Nemkov | TKO (Retirement) | 1 | 10:00 | RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Semi-Finals |
| Grand-Prix 100 kg | Muhammed Lawal | def. | Teodoras Aukštuolis | Decision (Unanimous) | 2 | 15:00 | RIZIN World Grand Prix 2015 Semi-Finals |
| Female Strawweight 52 kg | Rena Kubota | def. | Jleana Valentino | Submission (Armbar) | 2 | 8:31 | |