Ryusei Ashizawa and Koji Tanaka
put on a show in their bantamweight kickboxing clash at Rizin
Fighting Federation 41 on Saturday.

“Kouzi” displayed some traditional offense with his punches in the
Rizin 41 headliner at Maruzen Intec Arena Osaka in Osaka, Japan,
keeping the center of the ring for the majority of the bout. In
turn, Ashizawa was lighter on the feet and attacked from unorthodox
angles, mixing kicks, spinning-back strikes and knees to the body.
The pair went toe-to-toe for three rounds, with Ashizawa having
plenty of success with his knees, forcing Tanaka to lower his guard
and expose himself to his opponent’s punches. Ashizawa’s attacks
were particularly effective in the third frame, where he showcased
the variety of his striking skills. While Tanaka survived to hear
the final bell, he ended the fight with a cut on his right eye.
When the dust settled, the cage announcer appointed Ashizawa as the
winner via split decision, as one of the ringside judges scored the
clash in favor of Tanaka.

In the main mixed martial arts attraction, Vugar
Karamov imposed his will over Yoshinori
Horie in a featherweight tilt. Karamov (18-4, 4-1 Rizin)
effortlessly switched between striking and grappling in the opening
frame, keeping Horie (12-4, 3-1 Rizin) on his toes with his varied
arsenal. The Azerbaijani fighter scored a perfectly-timed
counterpunch that dropped his foe in the final seconds of the
opening round, nearly finishing Horie in the process. Karamov
heavily relied on his wrestling in the second frame, but Horie was
able to resist his foe’s attacks. A successful double-leg takedown
from Karamov was the turning point of the fight, as it eventually
led to him taking Horie’s back. Once in the favorable position,
Karamov sunk in a rear-naked choke attempt tight enough to force
Horie to tap at the 3:21 mark of Round 2. Karamov celebrated his
fourth promotional victory by asking for a shot at the 145-pound
championship.

Elsewhere, 170-pounder Keita
Nakamura (36-11-2, 1 NC; 2-0 Rizin) crushed Kiichi
Kunimoto (20-10-2, 1 NC; 3-2 Rizin) with a soccer kick-punches
combination 49 seconds out of the gate in Round 2; and flyweight
Makoto
Takahashi (16-1-1, 3-0 Rizin) submitted Daichi
Kitakata (20-12-1, 2 NC; 1-2 Rizin) via arm-triangle choke at
1:17 of the second period.

Before the intermission, Kyohei
Hagiwara (7-7, 6-5 Rizin) upended Kyle Aguon
(14-12, 1-4 Rizin) on all scorecards at the end of a hard-fought
145-pound clash; Koichi
Ishizuka (19-5-1, 1-0 Rizin) edged Yuto
Hokamura (14-13-2, 2-5 Rizin) thanks to a narrow split decision
at bantamweight; 155-pounder Kyung Pyo
Kim (12-4, 1-0 Rizin) forced Sho
Patrick Usami (6-2, 2-1 Rizin) to tap with a rear-naked choke
at 3:33 of Round 1; Mehman
Mamedov (6-6, 1 NC; 1-1 Rizin) stopped Yusaku
Nakamura (17-10-1, 5-5 Rizin) with punches 23 seconds out of
the gate in their 125-pound tilt; in a bantamweight kickboxing
clash, Shun Onishi (2-0 Rizin) crushed Motoki (0-2 Rizin) in Round
1; and Sota Kimura (1-0 Rizin) stopped Shingeki no Yuki (0-1 Rizin)
in the third fame of their 147-pound kickboxing bout.





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Ashizawa Outclasses Tanaka, Karamov Submits Horie at Rizin 41