Roberto Satoshi scored one of the most quickest wins of his MMA occupation to earn the inaugural RIZIN Combating Federation lightweight gold recently in Tokyo, Japan, beautiful himself with how easy it went against Tofiq Musayev.
Musayev changed into on a 14-strive against winning go over the likes of Patricky Pitbull, Johnny Case, Damien Brown and Daron Cruickshank going into RIZIN 28, but it handiest took 72 seconds for the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist to tap the 2019 sizable prix winner with a triangle choke.
“I changed into very anxious for this strive against, basically,” Satoshi stated in an interview with MMA Combating. “He changed into destroying all people within the promotion, beating big-name opponents cherish Pitbull. I changed into very thinking this strive against, I won’t vow it. He has big striking, he changed into losing all people with his heavy fingers, but, I don’t know, it changed into his responsibility [to win]. He changed into the particular person, he changed into the sizable prix champion, so I had no tension to steal. I changed into relaxed attributable to that.”
Satoshi admits he expected to get extra resistance in Musayev’s takedown makes an are trying, but like a flash realized “his hips weren’t that heavy,” and he would be in a role to secure a submission.
“He’s weird on the ft, no doubt about it, but there’s no match on the bottom,” Satoshi stated. “I basically feel I can put up any individual on the bottom.”
The jiu-jitsu specialist calls his RIZIN 28 victory his “biggest accomplishment as an athlete,” especially since he changed into the first MMA fighter to steal a belt through the ancient Tokyo Dome since PRIDE: Closing Battle 2003. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira won the interim heavyweight belt over Mirko Cro Cop that evening, with Wanderlei Silva winning the middleweight sizable prix with a pair of victories over Hidehiko Yoshida and “Rampage” Jackson.
Satoshi considers retiring from jiu-jitsu now that he’s the RIZIN lightweight champion, and hopes to have faith a reputation for himself — and loads of money — in Japan, a chain he has called home for over a decade. The 31-year-feeble doesn’t know who could perchance be the first to narrate him for the 155-belt, but expects it to be a Japan-primarily based mostly fighter for the reason that nation still has poke restrictions attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many participants asked me [about fighter pay in Japan] and I declare that RIZIN is cherish soccer,” he stated. “You’ll own a participant making millions and any individual from the identical crew and identical role making less. It’s about how mighty you sell, which in a formulation is cherish the UFC. Thank God I’m selling the firm successfully, my fights continuously pause with finishes, I’m continuously thrilling the followers. I have faith unbiased appropriate [money] in RIZIN, I don’t own any desire to head to the UFC. I would frequently have faith within the UFC what I have faith in RIZIN. The Japanese MMA market is only appropriate for me financially [laughs].”
More than unbiased appropriate pay, Satoshi says he values the coolest relationship between fighter and promoter in RIZIN over the tales he hears from UFC veterans.
“One thing I cherish very mighty about RIZIN is that I basically feel the tournament isn’t made for them, it’s made for the athletes,” he stated. “I basically feel crucial right here. I don’t basically feel I’m a man which could merely lose two fights and they also’re going to claim, ‘Oh, inch away, you’re no longer selling for guys anymore. Bye.’ And I basically feel that’s the case within the UFC. I’ve viewed many top Brazilian athletes that would strive against for the belt after they had been successfully and [the UFC] would protect them. And after they misplaced two or three, they would declare, ‘You’re no longer selling, inch away. Bye.’ You learn about top warring parties that [the UFC] despatched letters cherish, ‘Thank you very mighty, but to any extent extra you’re no longer section of the UFC roster.’
“The recognition I own right here in RIZIN is out of the customary. I’ve won many titles in jiu-jitsu, I’ve won gold medals in many tournaments, but, sadly, handiest the jiu-jitsu community known me right here in Japan. I fought [Sunday] and stopped for a moment on my draw home and four or five of us came to decide on photography with me, congratulate me, declare they had been jubilant that I brought the belt to Japan. This recognition is amazingly gratifying. That could perchance presumably be frosty within the UFC, but I feel the Japanese target market, the place I stay, the place I educate classes, values extra the reality that I’m battling for RIZIN right here in Japan.”
