RIZIN Landmark 9 took place on March 23rd, 2024 and Roberto Satoshi de Souza stood out among the results for putting on an electrifying performance in the main event fight. Although Souza is the reigning RIZIN lightweight world champion, he was coming off a loss in his attempt at winning the Bellator lightweight grand prix and was eager to get back in the win column. The belt wasn’t going to change hands regardless of what happened here though, as he was facing off with Keita Nakamura in a non-title bout. The fight had a lot to live up to as well, as there were plenty of entertaining matches leading up to it under both MMA and kickboxing rules.
While Satoshi was coming off a loss in his last fight, Nakamura was coming off a win and both men had been alternating wins and losses recently. It was a huge opportunity for Satoshi to right the ship and remind the fans why he’s the best lightweight fighter on the RIZIN FF roster. That’s exactly what he did as well, as he came out incredibly quickly and almost managed to knock Nakamura out with a head-kick and punches in the first minute. He followed that up with a series of soccer kicks to his downed opponent and although Nakamura managed to work his way back to his feet, Satoshi continued pursuing the finish with strikes and his corner threw in the towel.
RIZIN Landmark 9 Full Results
Roberto Satoshi de Souza defeats Keita Nakamura via TKO – Corner Stoppage (Round 1, 1:43)
Koji Takeda defeats Kyohei Hagiwara via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Naoki Inoue defeats Shoko Sato via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Rena Kubota defeats Shim Yu-Ri via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Preliminary Card
Yuya Shibata defeats Erson Yamamoto via Submission – Kneebar (Round 1, 1:45)
Yuto Hokamura defeats Daiki Tsubota via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Takakenshin defeats Cody Jereabek via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 2:58)
Yuta Kubo defeats Ryogo Takahashi via Decision – Split (Round 3, 5:00)
Buakaw Banchamek defeats Minoru Kimura via KO – Punch (Round 2, 1:10) – Kickboxing Match
Yuya defeats Masaya Jaki via TKO – Referee Stoppage (Round 2, 2:25) – Kickboxing Match
Yusaku Nakamura defeats Arman Ashimov via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Early Preliminary Card
Yuto Uemura defeats Aoi Noda via TKO – Referee Stoppage (Round 2, 1:35) – Kickboxing Match
Shun Matsuyama defeats Shin Sakurai via KO – Punch (Round 3, 1:55) – Kickboxing Match
Daichi Akahira defeats Yuki Yoshioka via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 3:00) – Kickboxing Match
