Rajabali Shaidullaev overwhelms Yuta Kubo again at Rizin 'Landmark Vol. 13'

Rajabali Shaidullaev continues to dominate the competition in Rizin. | Rizin FF

Rajabali Shaidullaev is one of MMA’s most talented fighters outside of the UFC. The 25-year-old Kyrgyz warrior kept his unblemished record intact and easily retained his featherweight title with a first-round TKO victory in the Rizin Fighting Federation “Landmark Vol. 13” main event on Sunday in Fukuoka, Japan.

Shaidullaev (19-0, 7-0 Rizin), who has run into a shortage of challengers on the Rizin roster, was matched up against striker Yuta Kubo (5-3, 1 NC; 5-3, 1 NC Rizin) in a rematch from their first meeting at the end of 2024. That first fight ended in a TKO triumph for Shaidullaev, and he captured his Rizin featherweight title four months later, but it was also the only time in his Rizin career so far that he was taken into a second round.

Perhaps motivated to make a statement with an even more dominant victory, Shaidullaev did just that in the rematchj. After engaging in an exchange of leg and body kicks with Kubo during the opening 90 seconds, Shaidullaev took his Japanese foe down against the cage and kneed him in the head. He trapped Kubo’s arm behind his back and repeatedly punched his face as Kubo tried in vain to break free. Shaidullaev postured up and landed a final series of punches that prompted referee Masato Fukuda to wave off the one-sided fight at the 4:13 mark of Round 1.

Whereas victorious fighters typically call out other members of their promotion’s roster, or defer to the judgment of matchmakers, Shaidullaev used his post-fight speech as an opportunity to issue a challenge to UFC and PFL athletes. While a showdown between Shaidullaev and a UFC fighter seems highly unlikely, PFL has appeared to be more open to working with other organizations. Whether Shaidullaev’s next foe comes from outside of Rizin, or in the form of a rising star like Kyoma Akimoto, remains to be seen. Shaidullaev is determined to take on the best in the world, and he seemed to know that his rematch with Kubo fell short of that goal.

In the co-main event, new bantamweight champion Danny Sabatello (18-4-1, 4-0 Rizin) successfully defended his title for the first time against challenger Joji Goto (19-9, 5-1 Rizin), who was never able to get anything going. Much like in his title-winning effort on New Year’s Eve, Sabatello was again positionally dominant tonight but failed to inflict much damage despite easily controlling Goto on the mat. Sabatello did attempt a series of rear-naked chokes during the opening round, but he spent most of the final 10 minutes pinning Goto down on the mat and landing just enough strikes to avoid being stood up. Sabatello’s style is anything but fan-friendly, but it is effective, and he cruised to a unanimous decision victory against the overmatched Goto.

A featured lightweight bout between Yoshinori Horie (15-6, 6-3 Rizin) and former Bellator champ Patricky Freire (25-16, 2-3 Rizin) took a while to heat up, but the veteran fighters engaged in a close battle that ended with Horie’s hand raised.

Horie connected with a strong right cross during the opening round and Freire dropped him with a leg kick. The Brazilian blocked a Horie head kick and jumped in with a flying knee attempt before the bell. Horie wobbled Freire with two right hooks in the second stanza, but he failed to follow up and Freire responded with a spinning back elbow after recovering. In the final round, Freire chased after Horie with punches until Horie took his back and pulled him down to the mat. Freire defended against a rear-naked choke attempt and rose to his feet, but Horie secured one more takedown before the final bell. One judge scored the fight 29-28 for Freire, while the remaining two had it 30-27 and 29-28 in favor of Horie for a close split-decision win.

The main card opened with a would-be featherweight bout between Kaleo Meheula (6-4, 1 NC; 0-0, 1 NC Rizin) and Kyohei Hagiwara (9-11, 1 NC; 8-9, 1 NC Rizin). Unfortunately, Meheula was not able to make weight, and so he began the fight with a two-point deduction. More crucially, the bout would be officially ruled a no contest if Meheula was able to secure a stoppage, and the Hawaiian did just that.

Hagiwara got off to a good start with kicks to Meheula’s leg and body, but Meheula responded nicely with some powerful knee strikes and elbows after trapping Hagiwara in a clinch. Time was called when Meheula was kicked in the groin, but he was able to continue and he trapped Hagiwara in another Thai clinch. After unleashing a series of knees to Hagiwara’s face, the Japanese brawler collapsed to the mat and the fight was waved off at the 4:50 mark of Round 1. The official records will not show Meheula as the winner due to his weight miss, but his wreckage of Hagiwara should easily be enough to earn him a second chance with Rizin in the future.

A Major Announcement

During the intermission prior to the main card, Seika Izawa entered the cage and vacated her Rizin FF women’s super atomweight title. The undefeated 28-year-old announced that she is expecting her first child with husband Kosuke Terashima, and will be stepping away from competition, but she added that she will continue to mentor young female fighters as part of the ongoing ‘Seika Izawa Challenge’ at her gym and also stated that she will be returning to reclaim her Rizin championship in the future.

Earlier on the card, Azizbek Temirov (6-2, 1-0 Rizin) made opponent Ryuya Fukuda (26-10-1, 4-2 Rizin) pay for showboating during their bantamweight matchup and sent an unconscious Fukuda careening to the canvas with a vicious uppercut. Temirov bloodied Fukuda’s nose early in the fight and fared well on the feet in the opening round. Hard punches were exchanged early in the second round, which led to Fukuda taunting and becoming overconfident. He ducked his head while throwing a jab and Temirov landed a monster uppercut for a knockout win at the 1:40 mark of Round 2.

Taio Asahisa made short work of Thai veteran Singphayak in a featherweight kickboxing bout. Asahisa targeted Singphayak’s midsection with strikes in the opening minute and then used a sweeping leg kick to set up a crushing right hand to the body that dropped Singphayak like a rock and gave Asahisa the impressive knockout win at the 1:45 mark of Round 1.

Former Rizin title challenger Makoto Takahashi (22-5-1, 1 NC; 8-4 Rizin) made his case for another shot at flyweight gold by quickly dispatching Nkazimulo Zulu (16-9-1, 1-3 Rizin). Takahashi scored a takedown and moved from half-guard to side control. From there, ‘Shinryu’ set his sights on Zulu’s right arm. He locked on a kimura and wrenched the arm far behind Zulu’s back. Zulu held on for as long as he could before tapping out at the 2:52 mark of the first round.

LFA interim strawweight champion Natalia Kuziutina (10-1, 1-0 Rizin) dropped down to 108 pounds and announced herself as a new force in the women’s super atomweight division by submitting former two-time Rizin champ Ayaka Hamasaki (26-8, 11-5 Rizin) with a first-round armbar. Kuziutina secured an early takedown and spent most of the opening round elbowing Hamasaki’s body and punching her face. She eventually moved to side control and then used knees to set up a quick armbar that forced Hamasaki to submit at the 4:55 mark of Round 1. With Seika Izawa vacating her super atomweight title, Kuziutina may find herself competing for the championship in her next Rizin appearance.

Rizin mainstay Kazumasa Majima (19-6, 5-5 Rizin) spoiled the promotional debut of former Bellator standout James Gallagher (13-4, 0-1 Rizin) at featherweight. Excluding guillotine chokes from Gallagher at the beginning of the first and second rounds, Majima otherwise controlled the opening 10 minutes of the fight on the ground. In the final round, he reversed a takedown and held Gallagher in an arm-triangle choke. Gallagher escaped once, but Majima adjusted his grip on the choke and Gallagher was soon unconscious. Majima’s technical submission win came officially at the 2:35 mark of Round 3.

Nurkhan Zhumagazy (11-1, 2-0 Rizin) and Tenya Yoshimura (5-3, 0-1 Rizin) engaged in a competitive bout that was originally slated to be contested at lightweight. However, due to Yoshimura weighing in 7.7 pounds over the limit, he incurred a two-point penalty and that left an easy decision for the judges at the end of the fight. Yoshimura’s punches had the most force behind them, but Zhumagazy wisely used his speed advantage throughout the fight and he landed quick kicks to Yoshimura’s body. Zhumagazy got a late takedown and threatened with a rear-naked choke, but Yoshimura made it to the bell. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Zhumagazy for a unanimous decision win.

Kyohei Takagi (4-1, 1-0 Rizin) – better known as “Hinotori” – earned his first Rizin win in impressive fashion by stopping the much more experienced Ryosuke Honda (14-8-1, 0-1 Rizin) at flyweight. Takagi wore Honda down with punches during the opening round and eventually dropped him with a hard one-two in the final 10 seconds. Honda tried to recover, but Takagi swarmed on him with follow-up shots to earn a TKO stoppage at the 4:59 mark of Round 1.

A bantamweight bout between Hyuga Miyagawa (7-7, 2-0 Rizin) and newcomer Seiya Inoue (0-1, 0-1 Rizin) predictably ended in a very one-sided unanimous decision victory for Miyagawa after Inoue had absolutely no answers for his opponent’s superior grappling. Miyagawa scored takedowns in all three rounds and racked up control time. Inoue, whose background is in striking, defended well on the ground but never mounted any offense of his own. All three judges scored the fight in favor of Miyagawa.

On the preliminary card, Shun Okamoto (3-0, 1-0 Rizin) took a two-round unanimous decision victory over Daiki Yahiro (7-5, 1-1 Rizin) at flyweight; Tomoaki Arimatsu (4-2, 1-0 Rizin) stopped Kodai Yamasaki (10-6, 0-1 Rizin) with punches at the 4:37 mark of Round 1 at bantamweight; Ryota Oki (6-5, 1-0 Rizin) prevailed via unanimous decision in his two-round lightweight bout against Ginji Arai (3-3, 0-1 Rizin); and Ryusei Imamura opened the card by finishing Yuki Kurotsuchi with a leg kick at the 58-second mark of Round 2 in a flyweight kickboxing match.