Chihiro Suzuki Stops Masanori Kanehara to Retain Featherweight Title at Rizin 46

AND STILL!💥

Chihiro Suzuki gets the 1st round TKO to make his first defense!

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Chihiro Suzuki made a successful first defense of his featherweight title with a first-round TKO stoppage on Sunday at Rizin Fighting Federation 46 in Tokyo, Japan. The 24-year-old Suzuki overwhelmed veteran challenger Masanori Kanehara with a barrage of ground punches at the 4:20 mark of Round 1.

Following an early timeout due to an accidental groin strike, Suzuki (13-3, 1 NC, 8-1, 1 NC Rizin) began to target the lower left leg of Kanehara (29-13-5, 4-2 Rizin) with kicks that slowed him down. With 75 seconds remaining in the first round, Suzuki abruptly picked up the pace, and he swarmed on Kanehara with punches — including a right hook to the temple that wobbled him. When Kanehara fell to the mat soon after, Suzuki sensed that a finish was near and he dove in with more punches until the fight was waved off.

Suzuki has now won eight of his past nine fights for Rizin, with the lone blemish coming in the form of a June 2023 no contest against Kleber Koike Erbst when Erbst submitted Suzuki but failed to make weight and was stripped of his featherweight title in the process. Erbst will be in action at Rizin 47 in June. A victory there could set up a championship rematch against Suzuki down the line, but Suzuki had another plan in mind when he spoke backstage following his win.

“I will take Pitbull’s belt,” Suzuki said in reference to the Bellator featherweight title held by Patricio Freire, whom Suzuki knocked out this past July at Super Rizin 2. “Rizin and Bellator will decide, but whether it is in Japan or in the United States, I’m ready anywhere.”

😳

Try not to cringe while watching the new MMA Meta: Achilles stomps...

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The bantamweight co-main event saw standout wrestler Shinobu Ota (6-3, 6-3 Rizin) score his biggest win to date with a clear-cut unanimous decision triumph against former Rizin featherweight champion Juntaro Ushiku (21-9, 3-3 Rizin).

While the main story of the fight was Ota’s ability to dictate the action with takedowns and clinch control, he did also land some particularly nasty stomps to Ushiku’s Achilles tendons as well. Ushiku’s best moment came late in the middle stanza after he took Ota’s back, but he could not secure a finish, and Ota dominated the final round en route to victory.

💥OUT OF NOWHERE!

Soo Chul Kim gets the KO with the first punch in the 2nd round!

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The Rizin 46 main card featured three Japan vs. South Korea matchups. The Japanese squad ultimately prevailed by a score of 2-1, but Soo Chul Kim (22-7-1, 3-1 Rizin) prevented a shutout by scoring one of the best knockouts of the night in his bantamweight battle against Taichi Nakajima (16-13, 1-2 Rizin).

Nakajima appeared to be well on his way to victory after he scored a takedown into mount in the first round and controlled the action as Kim noticeably fatigued. That all changed in an instant as the second round began. The fighters touched gloves, Kim dropped Nakajima with a left hook and he knocked him out cold with follow-up punches on the ground. The official time of Kim’s knockout came just six seconds into Round 2.

MAKOTO GETS THE TAP!!👏

🇯🇵TEAM JAPAN ARE 2-0 UP AGAINST TEAM SOUTH KOREA

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Recent Rizin flyweight title challenger Makoto Takahashi (17-2-1, 1 NC, 4-1 Rizin) overwhelmed Road to UFC Season 2 competitor Jung Hyun Lee (4-2, 0-1 Rizin) before submitting the South Korean with an arm-triangle choke at the 4:29 mark of Round 1.

Takahashi took Lee’s back during the opening minutes and he threatened with a rear-naked choke while also throwing punches. Lee complained that some were striking the back of his head, but the fight carried on, and Takahashi landed more strikes from back control. He transitioned to the arm-triangle choke, and Lee hastily tapped out. Following the bout, Takahashi requested a fight against Hiromasa Ougikubo, which has already been confirmed for Super Rizin 3 on July 28.

KURAMOTO BY SPLIT DECISION!

As close as it gets 😓

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Rounding out the Japan vs. South Korea bouts, Kazuma Kuramoto (10-4, 4-3 Rizin) notched the first win of the night for the Japanese contingent by edging out Ji Yong Yang (8-2, 2-1 Rizin) via split decision after three hard-fought rounds.

Kuramoto secured multiple takedowns in the first frame, and he attacked with a heel hook while Yang stood against the ropes in a corner. Yang opened a bad cut above Kuramoto’s right eye early in Round 2, but Kuramoto responded with more heel hook attempts and Yang was crucially given a yellow card for grabbing the ropes multiple times. Yang was more active with strikes in the final round, and he jumped guard with a guillotine choke late in the fight, but the point deductions from the yellow card were his undoing. One judge still scored the fight for Yang, but the remaining two both sided with Kuramoto.

On the preliminary card, Noah Bey (2-3, 2-3 Rizin) earned a lackluster unanimous decision victory against Yusaku Inoue (11-5-1, 1-1 Rizin) at lightweight; Viktor Kolesnik (26-4-1, 3-0 Rizin) took a well-deserved unanimous decision win in his featherweight fight against Yoshiki Nakahara (18-7, 3-2 Rizin); Ilhom Nazimov (11-3, 2-0 Rizin) dropped Sora Yamamoto (12-8, 3-4 Rizin) twice and finished him with elbows and punches at the 3:39 mark of Round 2 at featherweight; and Ryo Takagi (7-2, 1-1 Rizin) won his featherweight duel against Taisei Nishitani (6-7, 0-2 Rizin) via right-hook knockout at the 4:04 mark of Round 1.

The event also featured a 130-pound bare-knuckle boxing match between Tatsuki Shinotsuka and Justyn Martinez, which Shinotsuka won via knockout at the 1:33 mark of Round 1.