Super Rizin 3: Hiramoto Crushes Asakura for ‘LMS’ Title; Pacquiao, Anpo Box to Draw

REN HIRAMOTO IS THE LAST MAN STANDING!!!

HE STOPS MIKURU ASAKURA IN THE VERY FIRST ROUND!

Advertisement

Watch on #RIZIN TV!
🔗https://t.co/CXiPKkswl0

[ #SuperRIZIN3 ] pic.twitter.com/IEUWvFUMaG

— RIZIN.tv (@RIZINTV_) July 28, 2024

Competing in front of 48,111 fans inside a packed Saitama Super Arena, Ren Hiramoto scored the biggest victory of his young MMA career in devastating fashion Saturday at Rizin Fighting Federation: Super Rizin 3 in Saitama, Japan. Hiramoto knocked out heated rival Mikuru Asakura in the featherweight main event to win the Rizin FF ‘Last Man Standing’ title.

Leading in to tonight’s headliner, both Hiramoto (4-3, 4-3 Rizin) and Asakura (17-5, 1 NC; 11-4 Rizin) had pledged to retire if they were not victorious. Hiramoto was viewed by many as an underdog due to his comparable lack of experience, but he looked like a seasoned veteran tonight and needed just 2:18 to dispatch of Asakura.

Early on, Asakura landed two leg kicks and Hiramoto responded with a powerful one of his own. A large welt immediately formed on the side of Asakura’s right knee and Hiramoto landed another hard kick as the fighters circled one another. Suddenly, Hiramoto sensed an opening and he lunged forward with a combination of punches that rocked Asakura and sent him stumbling backward. Hiramoto dropped Asakura with a left hook to the temple and then finished him with some brutal punches on the ground for an emphatic knockout win.

After beginning his pro MMA career with back-to-back defeats, Hiramoto has won four of five fights since then and tonight’s triumph against former Rizin title challenger Asakura was by far his biggest. The next Rizin featherweight title shot is expected to go to Kleber Koike Erbst, but current champion Chihiro Suzuki, who defeated Hiramoto in March 2022, got into a heated exchange with Hiramoto during the latter’s post-fight celebration.

The co-main event at Super Rizin 3 featured a three-round boxing match between the legendary Manny Pacquiao and Rukiya Anpo, which was contested at 152 pounds. Any fears that this would be a light sparring session were quickly erased when Anpo cracked Pacquiao with multiple overhand rights in the first round. While there were no judges for the contest, which could only end via knockout or a time-limit draw, Anpo was definitely the more effective striker during the first three minutes.

That continued in the second stanza, and Anpo once again landed some nice overhand rights as well as combinations to the body. Pacquiao was briefly hurt twice by Anpo’s punches in the final round, but he rallied late in the fight and stunned Anpo with an uppercut. The fighters continued to trade hard punches until the final bell. Per the rules of the fight, the bout was declared a draw, but Anpo’s stock rose significantly with his performance.

Yuta Kubo stops former RIZIN featherweight champion Yutaka Saito with a beautiful body shot!!

Watch on #RIZIN TV!
🔗https://t.co/CXiPKkswl0

[ #SuperRIZIN3 ] pic.twitter.com/mKe5Q0xc9T

— RIZIN.tv (@RIZINTV_) July 28, 2024

In another bout involving featherweight contenders, Yuta Kubo (5-1, 5-1 Rizin) secured his fifth straight victory with a second-round TKO stoppage of former Rizin champion Yutaka Saito (21-9-2, 4-5 Rizin), who has struggled badly since losing his title in October 2021.

The fight got off to a slow start in the opening round until the final minute, when both fighters rocked each other with right hooks. Kubo went high with head kicks, but Saito managed to block each one. Kubo wore Saito down with body kicks throughout the second round until he landed a final front kick to Saito’s liver that doubled him over in a corner and ended the fight at the 4:19 mark of Round 2. Former K-1 champion Kubo’s takedown defense continues to improve and his impressive string of wins has put him in title contention.

Hiromasa Ougikubo wins by UD!

Makoto Shinryu didn't shake his hand afterwards...

Watch on #RIZIN TV!
🔗https://t.co/CXiPKkswl0

[ #SuperRIZIN3 ] pic.twitter.com/2cTQxp5NVc

— RIZIN.tv (@RIZINTV_) July 28, 2024

Opening up the main card, Hiromasa Ougikubo (27-8-2, 9-5 Rizin) won his flyweight grudge match against former student Makoto Takahashi (17-3-1, 1 NC; 4-2 Rizin) via unanimous decision. The opening round was fairly uneventful, but the pace picked up in round two after Takahashi sustained a cut above his left eye due to a clash of heads. The fight was allowed to continue and Ougikubo landed quick three-punch combinations.

In the final round, Ougikubo wobbled Takahashi with a left hook and trapped him in a guillotine choke. Takahashi escaped and spent some time in Ougikubo’s guard before the fighters stood and battled in a clinch in the corner. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Ougikubo, who has now won back-to-back fights.

The final preliminary bout before intermission was a 130-pound catchweight contest between 24-year veteran Hideo Tokoro (36-33-1, 4-5 Rizin) and Hiroya Kondo (8-13-1, 1-3 Rizin), with Tokoro planning to retire at its conclusion. Dedicating the fight to his wife, who is currently battling cancer, Tokoro showed flashes of his younger self by stopping Kondo with a right hook and three elbows at the 3:20 mark of Round 1.

Elsewhere on the preliminary card, Ryusei Ashizawa (1-1, 1-1 Rizin) took a hard-fought unanimous decision victory over Koji Tanaka (1-1, 1-1 Rizin) in a bantamweight bout that concluded with a sensational Round of the Year contender in the final five minutes; Rena Kubota (15-5, 14-4 Rizin) stopped Kate Oyama (5-7, 0-1 Rizin) with an onslaught of punches at the 4:18 mark of Round 2 and then requested a shot at the Rizin FF women’s super atomweight title; Ren Sugiyama (2-1, 2-1 Rizin) knocked out Hiroaki Suzuki (4-4, 4-4 Rizin) with a one-two combination at the 3:28 mark of Round 1 at featherweight; and Kazumasa Majima (17-5, 3-4 Rizin) won his featherweight duel against Suguru Nii (17-10, 2-3 Rizin) via tapout due to a rear-naked choke at the 3:11 mark of Round 2.

In flyweight bare-knuckle boxing matches, John Dodson defeated Takaki Soya via unanimous decision after five rounds, and Tai Emery won her bout against Charisa Sigala in just 37 seconds after breaking Sigala’s nose with a right hook.