MMA fans in Japan have a long-standing tradition of celebrating the new year by watching MMA fights. This tradition dates back to 2003 when Pride FC introduced its first New Year’s Eve event. Former Pride head Nobuyuki Sakakibara continues this tradition with RIZIN Fighting Federation.
This year, RIZIN ends the year on Dec. 31 with Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Makoto Takahashi for the flyweight title at RIZIN 45 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama. Ahead of the event, Sakakibara shared with MMA Fighting his top three favorite New Year’s Eve moments as an MMA executive.
The 2003 New Year’s Eve lineup featured headliners like Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, along with other stars such as Royce Gracie, Don Frye, and Quinton Jackson. However, that event did not make Sakakibara’s top three list.
Sakakibara said, “I would say the first one would be the 2006 New Year’s Eve because that is the first New Year’s Eve event we did without Fuji television. The entire thing of the challenge that we’ve been doing with Fuji television on New Year’s Eve is to deliver fight content to the Japanese people on free terrestrial television in a long program.” He went on to share more about the event and the challenges they faced.
The 2006 New Year’s Eve card, Pride Shockwave 2006, featured Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mark Hunt and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Josh Barnett as the co-main event. Other stars like Takanori Gomi, Mauricio Rua, and Shinya Aoki were also victorious that night.
Apart from the 2006 event, Pride had other memorable New Year’s Eve nights, like the Shockwave 2005 show with Wanderlei Silva vs. Ricardo Arona and Takanori Gomi vs. Hayato Sakurai. These events, however, didn’t make Sakakibara’s list.
One of his top three moments includes the 2015 doubleheader that kicked off his time with RIZIN. He goes into detail about the first show in the company’s history and the heavyweight grand prix, which saw some notable fighters compete.
He also talks about the significance of Fuji television committing to RIZIN from the start and how it played a role in the success of the organization today. To learn more about these moments, read the full article here.