Igor Tanabe just moved to 5-0 in his professional MMA career by beating Shinsho Anzai at RIZIN 45 on December 31st, 2023. Tanabe has been on a fantastic run since making the transition from BJJ to MMA, and he’s actually had a very busy year competing for RIZIN FF. He already held a 2-0 professional record when he signed for the promotion, with his last fight outside their ring coming on December 31st, 2022. He already finished both of those fights in the first round and added another first round submission win when he made his promotional debut.
Tanabe added another first-round submission win to his record later in the year and quickly became one of the top prospects on the RIZIN FF roster. It looked as though there wasn’t going to be anyone who could stop his run, but the promotion booked him against Shinsho Anzai to test him at their New Year’s Eve event. It wasn’t long at all before Tanabe found the finish though, as he took Anzai’s back in around a minute and started hunting for the rear-naked choke. Anzai held out for a little while but Tanabe was able to lock up the choke with a gable grip, squeezing hard to put him to sleep and get another submission win.
RIZIN 45 Full Results
Kyoji Horiguchi defeats Makato Takahashi via Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 2, 3:44)
Horiguchi wins RIZIN flyweight world championship
Kai Asakura defeats Juan Archuleta via TKO – Knee to the Body and Punches (Round 2, 3:20)
Asakura wins the RIZIN bantamweight world championship
Kleber Koike Erbst defeats Yutaka Saito via Technical Submission – Brabo Choke (Round 3, 1:22)
Ren Hiramoto defeats YA-MAN via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Seika Izawa defeats Miyuu Yamamoto via Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 2, 0:37)
Mikio Ueda defeats Tsuyoshi Sudario via TKO – Knee and Punches (Round 2, 0:55)
Hiromasa Ougikubo defeats John Dodson via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Vince Morales defeats Yuki Motoya via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Shinobu Ota defeats Ryusei Ashizawa via KO – Punches (Round 1, 2:21)
Kouzi defeats Kota Miura via TKO – Punches and Soccer Kicks (Round 2, 0:59)
Igor Tanabe defeats Shinsho Anzai via Technical Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 1, 1:32)
Hiroya Kondo defeats Jo Arai via TKO – Head kick and Punches (Round 2, 2:53)
Yuta Kubo defeats Rukiya Anpo via Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 1, 4:28)
Suguru Nii defeats Satoshi Yamasu via KO – Punch (Round 2, 1:03)
Tatsuki Shinotsuka defeats Daichi Tomizawa via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 3:00)
Ryujin Nasukawa defeats Shin Jong-Min via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 2:16)
Joe Hiramoto defeats Yushi via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
RIZIN FF uploaded the footage of Igor Tanabe putting Shinsho Anzai to sleep at RIZIN 45 in a post to their official English Twitter account:
OUT COLD 💤
📡 Watch on @FITEtv !🔻https://t.co/eEpfmslhPp pic.twitter.com/48T3a4CHg1
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) December 31, 2023
