Rizin president Sakakibara looking to hold 'Martial Arts Olympics' in Summer

Rizin president Nobuyuki Sakakibara has a fan-pleasing idea to help the MMA world weather the COVID-19 storm: a cross-promotional mega tournament in Tokyo. In an interview with Gong Magazine, the president of the Japanese promotion suggested that MMA promotions all get together to fill the void left by the cancelled 2020 Tokyo Olympics, whose venues are no longer going to be in use.

“Of course, assuming the coronavirus situation eases off, we want to first do one show this summer. If the new Olympic Stadium is not being used, it would be a waste, so we feel it would be right to do a ‘Martial Arts Olympics’ in Japan,” he said.

“As a federation, Rizin is calling for the co-operation of all the promotions to come together to make a stack of dream matchups,” said Sakakibara. “Of course, Scott Coker from Bellator is in, and I’d like to put it to the UFC and others too.”

Sakakibara, the former president of Pride Fighting Championships, imagines the event to be something in the vain of Pride Shockwave Dynamite in 2002, which had a live audience of over 90,000 people.

He has yet to reach out to other promotions but says it is imperative to do so. “I won’t know until I ask, but I can’t be shy about it. We haven’t faced these circumstances before, so now I think it’s the right time to take action together. … It really doesn’t even have to be called a Rizin event. Give it a one-off title, set up various dream matches, and make it a reality. K-1, Rise, Shoot Boxing, and other promotions can come together and be united as one.”

Of the current MMA drought, he said: “I don’t want the recent press conference announcement of cancellations to end on a negative note. I don’t want the fans to think the lights have gone out.”

Sakakibara is open to the idea of holding such an event after summer, as well. “If [summer] doesn’t happen, autumn, and if that doesn’t happen, New Year’s Eve. That all depends on the coronavirus situation, so we have to be flexible, but first of all I’m suggesting three to four months from now.”

Sakakibara suggested that Rizin “won’t be able to survive” if this situation persists much longer.