Kleber Koike Erbst Subs Chihiro Suzuki, Gets Stripped for Missing Weight at Rizin 43

Kleber Koike's strength remains eternal!

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— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) June 24, 2023

The latest Rizin Fighting Federation event was a festival of knockouts, submissions and drama.

The Rizin 43 headliner saw Kleber Koike Erbst face Chihiro Suzuki in what should have been Erbst’s first attempt to defend the featherweight championship. Unfortunately, the Brazilian missed weight by .9 pounds the day before and was stripped of the title, making Suzuki the only fighter eligible to win the crown. During the fight, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Erbst (31-6-1, 1NC; 6-1, 1 NC Rizin) dominated Suzuki (10-3, 1NC; 5-1, 1NC Rizin) from top to bottom. After a minute of striking exchanges on the feet, Erbst dragged his opponent on the mat and quickly gained the mount position. Once there, Erbst landed sporadic punches while threatening his foe with submission attempts. With precision and methodology, the Brazilian set up an armbar that inevitably made Suzuki tap at the 2:59 mark. Since Erbst missed weight, the clash was ruled no contest in accordance with the promotion’s rules, nullifying his dominant performance.

Yachi Yusuke's rear naked choke explodes! pic.twitter.com/aj3b4FJ2j0

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) June 24, 2023

In the 155-pound co-main event, Yusuke Yachi dismissed Bellator MMA alum Zach Zane with a first-round rear-naked choke finish. Zane (15-15, 0-2 Rizin) was never a threat to Yachi (25-13, 10-7 Rizin), who quickly moved the contest to the canvas and kept the action there every time his prey attempted to bounce back on the feet. Yachi manhandled Zane en route to gain control of his back, threw a few punches to ease the hooks in, secured a tight body triangle and sunk in a tight rear-naked choke. Zane tapped at 2:50 of the opening frame, taking home his sixth consecutive loss. In victory, Yachi accumulated a modest two-bout streak.

Ueno's knockout, marking the first step towards the world stage.

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— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) June 24, 2023

Elsewhere, heavyweight Mikio Ueda (2-1, 1-1 Rizin) annihilated Hideki Sekine (13-7, 2-3 Rizin) with a combination of knees and punches, punctuated with a final head kick 22 seconds out of the gate; Hiroaki Suzuki (3-3, 3-3 Rizin) dispatched Taisei Nishitani (6-6, 0-1 Rizin) with punches 56 seconds into their featherweight tilt; and Hiroki Suzuki wrecked Genji Umeno with a well-timed flying knee in the second period of their 138-pound kickboxing clash.

LIGHTS OUT! 💡

Minoru Kimura lands a beautiful left hook to score his first win in RIZIN!

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— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) June 24, 2023

Before the intermission, Minoru Kimura clubbed Daryl Lokoku with a haymaker, knocking his opponent out cold on the feet and faceplanting Lokoku in the opening round of their 161-pound kickboxing bout; 145-pounder Yuta Kubo (2-1, 2-1 Rizin) edged Takeaki Kinoshita (6-7-1, 0-1 Rizin) thanks to a narrow split decision; Saori Oshima (12-3, 3-0 Rizin) submitted Haruka Hasegawa (3-3, 0-1 Rizin) with a scarf hold armlock at strawweight at 1:16 of the first stanza; 145-pounder Suguru Nii (12-9, 1-2 Rizin) defeated Tateo Iida (13-7-2, 0-1 Rizin) via first-round knockout thanks to a series of punches followed by a soccer kick at 2:32 of Round 1; Tetsuya Seki (15-9-1, 3-2 Rizin) upended Kisugi Endo (15-12-5, 0-1 Rizin) on all scorecards at featherweight; Joji Goto (14-6, 1-0 Rizin) overcame Trent Girdham (12-5, 0-3 Rizin) with a remarkable twister at 2:34 into the second period at bantamweight; 135-pounder Aoi Kuriyama (5-5-1, 1-0 Rizin) wobbled Marina Kumagai (3-5, 0-1 Rizin) with a left overhand to call a knockout at 2:48 of Round 1; in a 127-pound kickboxing bout, Kensei Yamakawa crushed Ryoga Hirano en route to a TKO victory due to the three-knockdown rule in the second period; Toshiki Watanabe (20-8-2, 1-0 Rizin) forced Kento Azumi (2-2, 0-1 Rizin) to tap to a kneebar 67 seconds out of the gate at lightweight; Suguru Hayasaka (21-15-5, 1-0 Rizin) choked out Daiki Maruyama (1-3, 0-1 Rizin) via arm-triangle choke at 3:33 of Round 1 in their 121-pound catchweight.