Rizin 3 took place today in Japan and we’ve got all the results for you below.
In the main event of the evening, Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ booked his place in the semi-finals of Rizin’s openweight grand-prix on New Years Eve with a TKO victory over Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal.
King Mo had taken down Cro Cop in the first round and controlled him there for an extended period, but when he finally got back to his feet he started to unleash some of his famous kicks to the body and head of last year’s Rizin heavyweight GP winner.
Cro Cop started the second round brightly, preventing Lawal from taking him down and then pressing him against the ropes, before unleashing a combination of punches that included a hard body shot that appeared to hurt the Bellator fighter, with a few more strikes sinking him to the canvas to seal the TKO finish.
At the ripe old age of 42 this was a big win for Cro Cop, but he can’t afford to rest on his laurels as he still has two more fights to go on New Years Eve if he wants to win the title.
The first of those bouts will be a semi-final clash with Amir ‘Baruto’ Aliakbari who defeated another veteran campaigner Heath Herring by unanimous decision earlier in the evening.
Meanwhile, Kaid Hoovelson and Valentin Moldavsky will fight in the other semi-final after they emerged with victories on the scorecards today.
Check out all the results from today’s event below.
Rizin 3 Results:
Open weight: Mirko Filipovic def. Muhammed Lawal via TKO (strikes) – Round 2 – World Grand Prix quarterfinal
Open weight: Kaido Hoovelson def. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka via unanimous decision – World Grand Prix quarterfinal
Open weight: Amir Aliakbari def. Heath Herring via unanimous decision – World Grand Prix quarterfinal
Open weight: Valentin Moldavsky def. Szymon Bajor via unanimous decision – World Grand Prix quarterfinal
Women’s Flyweight: Rin Nakai def. Kanako Murata via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:27
Flyweight: Tenshin Nasukawa def. Nikita Sapun via TKO (strikes) – Round 1
Lightweight: Kazuyuki Miyata def. Andy Souwer via submission (armbar) – Round 1
Bantamweight: Yuki Motoya def. Allan Nascimento via split decision
Flyweight: Tatsumitsu Wada def. Kaiwhare Kara-France via unanimous decision
Featherweight: Yusuke Yachi def. Mario Sismundo via TKO (strikes) – Round 1
Women’s Atomweight: Alyssa Garcia def. Kanna Asakura via unanimous decision
Open weight: Vadim Nemkov def. Alison Vicente via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:54 – World Grand Prix reserve match
Lightweight: Satoru Kitaoka def. Daron Cruickshank via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1
