Rizin 14 - Floyd x Tenshin Nasukawa

[Susan]

Read on Twitter

Nasukawa is one of the young stars of the sport. Super interesting to see him against Floyd, whats your thoughts here?!

[qm22]

I guess it will be boxing or almost-entirely boxing rules, so as a crossover it makes it more of a spectacle than something I'm interested in from fighting POV, but there is the added angle of being able to see if this Nasukawa does it better than CMac. I've only seen a few Rizin events. Their organization and framework is really appealing from a fighting standpoint but I never followed the fighters, so hopefully that and the additional attention helps them grow.

Imagine all those people who wanted to leave the UFC lately going to Rizin because they (i.e., Khabib's manager) want them (Khabib) to get a superfight the UFC blocked. I feel a little lame to always pile on Dana White, but this is hilarious timing. He says he loves Floyd and can do crossover fights, but takes a cocky hardline stance like Floyd needed the UFC and said it only happens if he signs with the UFC. Days later, Floyd announces Floyd v. Tenshin collaborating with Rizin.

[Spens1]

Floyd is fighting, at RIZIN? Good job to them for getting that fight. (Inb4 Khabib jumps ship to RIZIN, then again he may actually prefer it there anyway, him and Cormier are two people who come to mind that would probably prefer it there than the UFC).

Makes Dana look like a proper Goof (so what's new, i mean this warrants a Goofcon 3 i'd say on the scale). Khabib came out and said he wants Floyd which is a money fight. I mean it could still happen but i can't imagine Khabib will be thrilled about this.

also what are the chances Floyd saw the contract and thought it was in dollars instead of yen I really want to know how on earth are they meant to pay him though, is he going to get a stake in the company or something?

[Susan]

[REDDzone]

Someone said this is a 12 round MMA match. Except all rounds are 3 minutes. And using boxing gloves instead of MMA gloves. And no takedowns. And no elbows. And no kicks.

[Headliner]

Who the hell is the guy he's fighting though? If it's a boxing match, I wouldn't even think of watching.
If it's a kickboxing match, it's more interesting.
If it's MMA, I'm really interested.

[Jasen777]

Someone said this is a 12 round MMA match. Except all rounds are 3 minutes. And using boxing gloves instead of MMA gloves. And no takedowns. And no elbows. And no kicks.

Except 12 rounds is going to be a 3 round exhibition.

[cowboyronnie]

Who the hell is the guy he's fighting though? If it's a boxing match, I wouldn't even think of watching.
If it's a kickboxing match, it's more interesting.
If it's MMA, I'm really interested.

I would like to see top YouTube searches made this morning.

[lilfishi22]

Tenshin is a legit rising kick boxing star. He's super fun to watch because he's powerful, he's aggressive and he's unorthodox with some of his attacks. Such a random opponent though.

[cowboyronnie]

He isn't that unconventional with his hands, though. And - watching a HL just now - he doesn't have m/any KOs with his hands. Also, no way dude is more than 135/140 pounds.

So there is 0% chance he can KO Mayweather. Floyd picked a KO artist who doesn't have KOs with a usable technique.

At least pick a karate stylist with hands. Someone doing Gomi c. 2005 stuff. Or someone doing some Wonderboy in-out movement.

[lilfishi22]

He definitely isn't unconventional with his hands. Conor has better hands than Tenshin.

[lilfishi22]

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2018/11/7/18072646/floyd-mayweather-rizin-fight-vs-tenshin-nasukawa-isnt-happening-boxing-news

Now that I am back on U.S. soil after a long and disappointing trip to Tokyo, I now have the time to address you, my fans and the media in regards to the upcoming event on December 31st that was recently announced.

First and foremost, I want it to be clear that I, Floyd Mayweather, never agreed to an official bout with Tenshin Nasukawa. In fact (with all due respect) I have never heard of him until this recent trip to Japan. Ultimately, I was asked to participate in a 9 minute exhibition of 3 rounds with an opponent selected by the “Rizen Fighting Federation”.

What I was originally informed of by Brent Johnson of “One Entertainment” was that this was to be an exhibition put on for a small group of wealthy spectators for a very large fee. This exhibition was previously arranged as a “Special Bout” purely for entertainment purposes with no intentions of being represented as an official fight card nor televised worldwide.

Once I arrived to the press conference, my team and I were completely derailed by the new direction this event was going and we should have put a stop to it immediately. I want to sincerely apologize to my fans for the very misleading information that was announced during this press conference and I can assure you that I too was completely blindsided by the arrangements that were being made without my consent nor approval.

For the sake of the several fans and attendees that flew in from all parts of the world to attend this past press conference, I was hesitant to create a huge disturbance by combating what was being said and for that I am truly sorry. I am a retired boxer that earns an unprecedented amount of money, globally, for appearances, speaking engagements and occasional small exhibitions.

[cowboyronnie]

You just got Sakakibara'd, bitch.

[qm22]

That's the weirdest ****. Don't feel like I want to bother following potential Floyd fights or it will be years of BS before some fight actually happens.

[Butch718]

He probably got paid to give this dude some exposure.

[REDDzone]

You just got Sakakibara'd, bitch.

Maybe Sakakibara got Floyd'd?

[Headliner]

Back on

It’s a three round exhibition...that’s really odd.

Floyd is going to lose this. This is so stupid on his part. He has to know that they are trying to pull something here. This is all so shady.
I would bet money they will have score cards, they will be promoting it like a real fight, and they will announce this kid the winner unless there’s a KO, which isn’t going to happen, regardless of the outcome.
He’s going over there to put a spotlight on their 20 year prize champion. They are going to treat this as though it’s a real fight to the fans and Mayweather plays the boxing game of give away a round or two to tire them and then run circles. He better not even think of that. One clear round to the other guy makes it an even easier fix job.

I’m telling ya, this is going to be ugly. Floyd would be smart to refuse to walkout if he sees scorers at the table

[Headliner]

Chael has a great video saying that this is a big con. I fully agree with him.

Something shady is up.

Unless this is all set up for some sort of long game, where Floyd wants it to be controversial so that they can use that to sell an actual 12 round boxing event where he can make another 100 mill

[GoRapstheoriginal]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/more/floyd-mayweather-ring-new-year-knocked-japan/

[cowboyronnie]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/more/floyd-mayweather-ring-new-year-knocked-japan/

That's unconvincing. A lot of words to say, "he fast" and "he's training hard".