Rizin Fighting Federation made its promotional debut Tuesday in Japan while most Americans were still tucked away in their comfy beds.
Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan hosted the festivities. Spike TV aired the card in America.
The two-day extravaganza featured a scrap between Japanese superstars Shinya Aoki and Kazushi Sakuraba.
The card also showcased the opening round of their heavyweight tournament.
Here are the official results from today’s fights:
Valentin Moldavsky Defeats Yuta Uchida via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:20 in 1stRound heavyweight tournament alternate fight
Hiroyuki Takaya Defeats Daiki Hata via unanimous decision
Hideo Tokoro Defeats Kizaemon Saiga via submission (armbar) at 5:15 in 1stRound
Anatoly Tokov Defeats A.J. Matthews via knockout (punch) at 0:55 in 1stRound
Felipe Efrain Defeats Yuki Motoya via TKO (punches) in 1stRound (fight to be ruled no-contest due to Efrain missing weight)
Kirill Sidelnikov Defeats Carlos Toyota via TKO (strikes) at 2:32 in 1stRound
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka Defeats James Thompson via TKO (strikes) at 1:58 in 2ndRound
Muhammed Lawal Defeats Brett McDermott via knockout (punch) at 9:10 in 1stRound – heavyweight tournament opening round
Teodoras Aukstuolis Defeats Bruno Cappelozza via knockout (punches) at 3:32 in 1stRound – heavyweight tournament opening round
Vadim Nemkov Defeats Goran Reljic via knockout (strikes) at 2:58 in 1stRound – heavyweight tournament opening round
Jiri Prochazka Defeats Satoshi Ishii via knockout (strikes) at 1:36 in 1stRound – heavyweight tournament opening round
Shinya Aoki Defeats Kazushi Sakuraba via TKO (strikes) at 5:56 in 1stRound