Joji Gato just shocked the Japanese MMA community at RIZIN Landmark 6 on October 1st, 2023 when he managed to secure a Twister submission win for the second fight in a row. Gato made his debut for RIZIN FF back at RIZIN 43 and he had a 14-6-1 professional MMA record at the time, with only 2 submissions wins in that time. He was known as much more of a striker so naturally it came as quite a bit of a surprise when he was able to finish his opponent, Trent Girdham, with a Twister in the second round. It’s a rare submission to see from even the most talented grapplers, so nobody expected Gato to manage to lock one up and force the tap.
Fans would have been expecting a return to normal for Joji Gato at RIZIN Landmark 6, and they can be forgiven for thinking the Twister finish in his last fight was a one-off. Apparently not though, as Gato actually did exactly the same thing in the second round of his fight with Junya Hibino. There are only a handful of fighters who’ve ever managed to finish a fight with a twister and Gato must be one of the only ones to ever manage it more than once.
RIZIN FF uploaded the footage of Joji Gato landing his second straight twister submission win in a recent post to their official Twitter account:
Back-to-back twisters?! 🌪️
Is Joji Goto the first fighter in MMA history to do that?!
[ @FiteTV PPV https://t.co/eEpfmslhPp ] pic.twitter.com/58RwXALlrL
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) October 1, 2023
RIZIN Landmark 6 Full Results
Alan Yamaniha defeats Hideo Tokoro via Decision – Unanimous
Shoko Sato defeats Shinobu Ota via Decision – Split
Tsuyoshi Sudario defeats Dong Hwan Lim via TKO – Punches
Yuki Ito defeats Topnoi Kiwram via Decision – Split
Genji Umeno defeats Yuto Saito via Decision – Majority
Intermission
Yusaku Nakamura defeats Hiroya Kondo via Decision – Split
Igor Tanabe defeats Koji Shikuwa via Submission – Triangle Choke
Machi defeats Ayaka Watanabe via Decision – Split
Hidetaka Arato defeats Takakenshin via TKO – Punches
Rogerio Bontorin defeats Yutaro Muramoto via Decision – Unanimous
Viktor Kolesnik defeats Ryo Takagi via Decision – Unanimous
Yusaku Inoue defeats Kohei Tokeshi via TKO – Flying Knee and Punches
Joji Goto defeats Junya Hibino via Submission – Twister
Preliminary Card
Shogo Ota defeats Ginji Hara via Submission – Armbar
Genki Takeno defeats Ryota Naito via Decision – Unanimous
Ryuki Kirishima defeats Masanari via Decision – Unanimous