President of 'New PRIDE' wants to hold event in the USA

Sakakibara wants to take Rizin to the West. Photo: Rizin FF/Disclosure

When the extinct PRIDE held its first event in the United States, in 2006, the promotion was already coming to an end and just over a year later it ended up closing its doors and being purchased by the UFC. With the “resurrection” of the organization, under the leadership of Nobuyuki Sakakibara and the name “Rizin FF”, landing in America is already an established objective, but it will depend on the progress of the event in Japan.

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“That’s my dream. I want to return to the American market with Rizin. We need the right time. We have to bring people back to the Japanese market first,” said Sakakibara, to the “MMA Fighting” website. “We have negotiated with the commissions in the past about rules and what not. I believe that goal kicks, knees to the head and that kind of thing must be difficult to negotiate. But ten-minute rounds shouldn’t be a big problem for a fighter’s health,” he added.

To date, Rizin has promoted two events, at the end of December 2015 and last April. The first card, divided into two days of fights, was headlined by the return of Fedor Emelianenko to the rings. The second night of fights had as its main attraction the doubles grappling fight between teams led by Wanderlei Silva and Kazushi Sakuraba.