Roberto Satoshi expects to clean out the RIZIN lightweight division before the end of 2025.
Satoshi will battle Yoshinori Horie in the main event of RIZIN 51, which goes down Sunday morning in Nagoya, Japan, and believes there will be only one name remaining on the company roster after he scores his fifth defense of the 155-pound title.
Shunta Nomura, who beat Patricky Pitbull in July to extend his winning streak to five, was the original opponent for the gold in September, but the turnaround was too
short after the three-round war with the former Bellator titleholder.
“I think so, thank God,” Satoshi told MMA Fighting when asked if he’s about to clean out the weight class in RIZIN. “This opponent is a risk, I can’t underestimate anyone, but if I think if I were going to fight Nomura now, I think there would be no one else in the division in RIZIN, they would have to look for someone on the outside, because I’ve already done everything I had to do.”
According to Satoshi, the plan is to beat Horie this weekend and then defend his title against Nomura on the final card of the year on Dec. 31.
“I do have this sentiment,” Satoshi said. “This fight and then [Nomura] by the end of the year and if all goes right, defeating Horie and Nomura, I think I would have cleaned out the division.”
Satoshi made his RIZIN debut in 2019 after a 7-0 run in the Asian circuit and won 12 of 13 bouts under the company’s banner since. The sole setback was a 75-second knockout to Johnny Case, which he successfully avenged three years later with a first-round armbar finish to defend his throne.
The jiu-jitsu specialist has grown into a complete mixed martial artist in RIZIN, scoring five knockouts and six submissions at lightweight. That, he said, makes him an exciting champion to root for.
“I was talking to my brother and at the same time that I’m winning and people like that, everybody wants to see [a champion] lose,” Satoshi said. “Like, ‘Who will take out that guy?’ Khabib [Nurmagomedov], for example. I loved Khabib. He beat everybody, but it would have been crazy if he lost, right? And my brother said, ‘Khabib won, but it was always the same game. Goes forward, lands a punch and takes people down. It was kind of boring.’
“Thank God my fights aren’t like that. I knocked out one guy with a head kick, and then I knocked out another one with a punch, and then tapped one with a triangle. I’m not doing the same thing over and over. Everybody’s like, ‘What will happen this time?’ I’ve never seen it from this perspective before. It’s good to be changing and not doing the same thing all the time. I’ve been surprising people.”
No fighter has defended a title more than Satoshi in RIZIN. The Brazilian talent also holds the all-time record for most finishes in the promotion, and is tied with the likes of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipivic and Tofiq Musayev for most knockouts in RIZIN.
“Keeping this legacy is very important for my history,” Satoshi said when asked if he’s considering a move to a different division in the future. “My focus is to stay dominant, to prove that I’ve won and dominated the division for a while.”
Horie, a one-time UFC veteran, is 5-2 in RIZIN with two of his victories coming by way of knockout. That said, Satoshi doesn’t see him bringing anything new to the table.
“My plan is to do well on the feet because my opponents are always avoiding going to the ground with me,” Satoshi said. “[Won Bin Ki], the ‘Korean Zombie’ protege I fought earlier this year, he did pretty much the same game. In fact, my last three or four opponents had the same fighting style.”
