Founding and the PRIDE Legacy (2015)
RIZIN Fighting Federation was created in 2015 by Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the former president of Pride Fighting Championships and Dream Stage Entertainment. After PRIDE FC's sale and collapse in 2007 and the later winding down of Dream, Sakakibara sought to revive large-scale Japanese MMA. On September 19, 2015, during the Bellator MMA & Glory: Dynamite 1 broadcast, he announced he had signed former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko to headline a New Year's Eve show, and on October 8, 2015 he formally launched the promotion alongside Nobuhiko Takada and other ex-PRIDE personnel. RIZIN was conceived as the spiritual successor to PRIDE FC, Hero's and Dream, retaining their hallmarks: competition in a roped ring rather than a cage, elaborate opening ceremonies and fighter entrances, and a modified PRIDE ruleset permitting soccer kicks, knees and stomps to grounded opponents. The promotion is headquartered in Tokyo and operated under Sakakibara's Dream Factory Worldwide.
Inaugural Events and Early Years (2015-2017)
The promotion debuted with a two-night Grand Prix at the Saitama Super Arena: RIZIN World Grand-Prix 2015 Part 1 (Saraba) on December 29 and Part 2 (Iza) on December 31, 2015, drawing tens of thousands of spectators across the two cards. Early signees included Japanese legends Kazushi Sakuraba, Shinya Aoki and Takanori Gomi, alongside female star RENA (Rena Kubota) and Gabi Garcia. The format leaned on open-weight and tournament-style cards: the inaugural heavyweight Grand Prix was won by Muhammed Lawal (who defeated Jiri Prochazka in the final), and the 2016 Openweight Grand Prix was won by Mirko Cro Cop. In 2017 RIZIN ran multi-division Grand Prix tournaments, with Kyoji Horiguchi winning the bantamweight bracket and Kanna Asakura the women's super atomweight bracket, while kickboxing prodigy Tenshin Nasukawa emerged as a marquee attraction. RIZIN solidified its New Year's Eve broadcast as a centerpiece of the Japanese combat-sports calendar, echoing the PRIDE-era Shiwasu tradition at the Saitama Super Arena.
Championship Era and Crossover Spectacles (2018-2021)
RIZIN transitioned from a tournament-driven model toward a championship structure. Its first titles were contested on December 31, 2018 at RIZIN 14, where Ayaka Hamasaki became inaugural women's super atomweight champion and Kyoji Horiguchi became inaugural bantamweight champion by defeating Darrion Caldwell. Further divisions followed: light heavyweight (Jiri Prochazka, April 2019), featherweight (Yutaka Saito, November 2020) and lightweight (Roberto de Souza, June 2021). Around this period RIZIN also revised its rounds for men's bouts to a 5-5-5 minute structure. The promotion drew global attention through crossover spectacles. At RIZIN 14, Floyd Mayweather Jr. faced Tenshin Nasukawa in a boxing exhibition, stopping him in the first round. RIZIN cultivated its own crossover stars in the Asakura brothers, Mikuru and Kai, the latter of whom later signed with the UFC. At RIZIN Trigger 1 in November 2021, the promotion held its first event inside a cage rather than its traditional roped ring, signaling a willingness to adapt its presentation.
Modern Era: Co-Promotion and International Expansion (2022-2025)
RIZIN expanded its reach through partnerships and overseas events. On December 31, 2022, it staged a cross-promotional card with Bellator MMA, and through 2022 launched the Super RIZIN brand, including a Mayweather co-promotion. Broadcast arrangements shifted away from Fuji Television amid controversy, with the promotion moving toward pay-per-view via RIZIN STREAM PASS and later its own international subscription service, RIZIN.tv (2024). The 'The Match 2022' kickboxing event pairing Tenshin Nasukawa and Takeru filled the Tokyo Dome. The promotion held its first major international event with RIZIN Landmark 7 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on November 4, 2023, and announced a partnership with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) in 2024. In December 2024, RIZIN marked roughly a decade of operation with RIZIN Decade, where champions including Roberto Satoshi Souza and Kyoji Horiguchi defended titles and Kleber Koike claimed featherweight gold. RIZIN entered the mid-2020s as Japan's premier MMA promotion, blending an internationalizing roster with its distinctly Japanese spectacle and New Year's Eve identity.
Japan