RIZIN

Background and formation

In 1997, Pride Fighting Championships was founded in Japan, promoted by Dream Stage Entertainment. The organization quickly rose up to become the world's most popular MMA promotion and helped to popularize the sport in Japan and in the world. Pride differentiated itself from the UFC with its focus on spectacle and entertainment, as well a more permissive ruleset. By 2007, a scandal alleging its ties to the yakuza caused a financial decline that lead to the promotion folding. Dream Stage Entertainment was bought by Zuffa—UFC's holding company—which initially promised to keep the event running. However, Zuffa would lay off most of Pride's staff with several Pride fighters moving to the UFC.

After Pride folded, most of DSE's former staff, fighters and executives joined Fighting and Entertainment Group, the promoters of K-1, to organize a successor, which became known as Dream. However, FEG would have its own financial issues and went bankrupt in 2012. As a result, Dream became defunct.

Three years after Dream folded, rumors began circulating that Pride and Dream founder Nobuyuki Sakakibara would return to the industry after an interview with Bellator MMA President Scott Coker was released. On September 19, 2015, during Bellator MMA & Glory: Dynamite 1, it was announced that Sakakibara had signed former Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko to headline a New Year's Eve Show in Tokyo for his new MMA promotion. Sakakibara held a press conference on October 8, 2015, with Nobuhiko Takada and other former Pride FC employees to formally announce the launch of "Rizin Fighting Federation". Initial signees included Kazushi Sakuraba, Shinya Aoki, as well as female competitors Gabi Garcia and Rena Kubota.

A Grand Prix tournament was announced (held at 100 kg or roughly 220 lbs), with champions and competitors from Bellator, KSW, Jungle Fight, BAMMA, and King of Kings. Most notably, King Mo was announced to represent Bellator in the tournament. The 8-man bracket was officially finalized on November 30, 2015, with other bouts also being announced shortly thereafter. Kron Gracie (whose father Rickson competed at the inaugural PRIDE event) was announced to participate against Asen Yamamoto. Amongst the veterans in the Japanese scene, Tsuyoshi Kosaka would face James Thompson, and Akebono Tarō would face Bob Sapp.

Initial plans were to do at least four events per year, as opposed to the more frequent scheduling of other promotions, in order to build up the excitement and anticipation. Rizin's presentation is modeled after major sporting events, such as the UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup.

2016–present

In 2018, it was announced that the main event for the traditional New Year's Eve card (Rizin 14) was going to be a boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and undefeated Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa. The match ended up with Nasukawa knocked out two minutes into the first round.

Rizin Trigger 1st, on November 11, 2021, would be Rizin's first event in which matches would take place inside a cage, instead of the traditional roped ring.

On December 31, 2022, as the traditional New Year's Eve event, Rizin hosted a crossover Bellator vs Rizin card with Bellator MMA as part of Rizin 40. The card saw fighters from each promotion fight each other. The card saw Bellator MMA fighters Gadzhi Rabadanov, former champions A.J. McKee, Juan Archuleta and Kyoji Horiguchi, and current champion Patricio Freire, fighting against Rizin representatives Koji Takeda, Soo Chul Kim, Hiromasa Ougikubo and champions Kleber Koike Erbst and Roberto de Souza. All five Bellator representatives would win their matches in a clean sweep. During the event, former boxing world champion Manny Pacquiao made a public announcement that he had signed with Rizin for a boxing exhibition match against an yet-unannounced opponent.

During the Super Rizin 2 card on July 30, 2023, the promotion announced their first international event, Rizin Landmark 7, to take place in Azerbaijan on November 4. It will also be the first major MMA event to take place in the country.