Former RIZIN lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi loves to see the Japanese company co-promote with the Professional Fighters League — and automatically their new partners MVP MMA — and potentially lead to dream fights on North American soil.
The PFL and RIZIN will unify their featherweight title Thursday, when A.J. McKee battles Razhabali Shaydullaev for both 145-pound belts at Super RIZIN 5, and Satoshi hopes it could also happen one day in the heavier weight classes. Satoshi, who faces off with Shunta Nomura on the Sept. 10 card in Osaka, sets sight on the title he once held and possibly matches with PFL talents Usman Nurmagomedov, Paul Hughes, Alexandr Shabliy, and Gadzhi Rabadanov.
“I think it’s really cool when you stop and think about the fact that RIZIN is doing is something no other promotion has done,” Satoshi told MMA Fighting. “Bringing two promotions together, merging them like that, happens quite often in boxing. Having the world champion from one promotion fight the world champion from another promotion, like A.J. against Shaydullaev, is really good. It’s really cool.
“The fighters can only benefit from it, the promotion can only benefit from it, and the fans benefit too, because there are so many matchups we’ve always dreamed of seeing. How many fights did we imagine back when Bellator was at its strongest, with their champions fighting UFC champions? It would be a dream to be able to fight overseas, in the United States. My entire career has been here in Japan, so it would be really cool.”
Another star that is joining RIZIN on this week’s show is Shinya Aoki, who returns to the promotion 11 years after his sole appearance before signing with ONE Championship. Satoshi has seen Japanese fans campaign for this match-up for many years in the past and still thinks it could lead to a “very interesting” challenge in grappling, if not under MMA rules.
“People talked about it a lot because when I had the RIZIN belt and he had the ONE belt,” Satoshi said. “Then he went through a rough patch, lost two or three fights in a row, and kind of took a step back, but there was a time when people talked about that matchup a lot. There’s not much I can say other than he’s a legend.
“In Japan, at lightweight, he was the guy who carried Japanese MMA for a very long time,” he continued. “He didn’t have the best performances when he took a chance and went over to Strikeforce, but there’s not much to say, he’s a legend. Obviously, he’s getting older now, but that doesn’t mean his jiu-jitsu isn’t still sharp. He still has the name, and he’s still the same guy he always was, you know?”
The man standing across the ring Thursday at the Kyosera Dome Osaka arena is Shunta Nomura, who also holds a win over current RIZIN champion Luiz Gustavo. Satoshi said this is the third time RIZIN has paired them up, giving him plenty of time to prepare the ideal strategy.
“I’ve been studying him for a long time,” Satoshi said. “I know he has a tricky style, he uses that karate style, getting in and out, and has very fast movement. But it’s a fight that interested me. He’s a new prospect coming out of Japan and he’s already beaten the two Brazilians in the lightweight division, so it’s an interesting fight.”
The jiu-jitsu specialist believes that avoiding grappling exchanges is “the game plan of everyone I’ve fought so far, […] but I’ve also been training a lot of striking. I’ve been building my confidence. I think we’ll be able to have an interesting fight, not just a striker vs. grappler type of matchup.”
RIZIN has yet to announce who’s next in line for Gustavo’s title, and the winner of Satoshi vs. Nomura would make sense considering both hold wins over the Brazilian knockout artist.
“You could basically call this a title eliminator. Whoever wins has a very good chance of getting a shot at the belt,” Satoshi said. “I think this fight is very important because I’ve become a veteran now. Nomura is one of the younger guys coming up, so I want to show that I still have my place here and that I can still make another run at the belt. This fight is very important for that. If I win, the path to the title becomes much closer and much easier.”
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