(TIMESTAMPS ARE AVAILABLE)

0:00 Show Intro & Extended Disclaimer

2:23 RIZIN 53 English Language Trailer w/Michael Schiavello (Partial Interpretation by J. Christian Gary)

4:45 J. Chrish Welcomes in the show, goofs a bit & introduces ayWolf & Mr. Ohio while discussing RIZIN’s Card Strength vs. the UFC & Combate Global

19:00 Breaking Down the Prelims

25:16 Ilkhom Nazimov's 1st Lightweight Title Defense vs. Luis “KILLER” Gustavo

38:12 The Returns of Ren Hiromoto & KOUZI in a Standing Rules Bout

50:07 Ryo Takagi Faces Chinese Veteran Kaiwen Li in Featherweight

1:00:06 Yuto “KINTARO” Hokamura Battles 2016 Olympic Silver Medalist Shinobu Ota

1:08:52 Hometown Favorite Kate “LOTUS” Oyama Meets International Debutant “La Máquina Asesina” Katie Perez

1:24:59 Former King of Pancrase Champion Tatsuya “YANBO” Saika Takes on “Savage” Sho Patrick Usami

1:34:26 Ryan Kim Cafaro and Koyomi Matsushima Make Their RIZIN Debuts against each other

1:51:17 Daiki “LIGHTYEAR” Tsubota Faces Dangerous Kickboxing Crossover “YABAI-DAROU” Genji Umeno

1:55:11 BREAKING DOWN Veteran Ryoma “JOLLY” Shishimoto Meets K-1 Veteran Kenshin Kodama in the latter’s MMA Debut

2:01:59 Seiya Ameyama Tests Joe Hiramoto's Rising Potential

2:05:15 American Unknown Jake “The Outlaw” Wilkins (not mentioned: son of Wellington Wilkins Jr.) Battles Koki Nakagawa in Show Opener

2:13:35 Panelists Pick Top Fights to Watch and Final Thoughts

2:26:30 Plugs, Goofs & Show Outro

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RIZIN 53 is This Weekend (about 24 hours away as of this release). Before the action takes place in the ring at GLION Arena in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, the panel of JayWolf, Mike “Mr. Ohio” Soltez & our “Chillmeister” J. Christian Gary put over the 11 main card fights (10 MMA & 1 Standing Rules Bout) to talk about the critiques, pros & cons of the action taking place.

You can watch all the action go down on RIZIN.TV for $20 (Stand-Alone) or via the RIZIN Premium Pass (for $17): https://www.rizin.tv/featured-category/events/rizin-53

Check out these great platforms:

(JayWolf)

https://x.com/Jayyolf1

(Charles “C.J.” Jewett)

https://sogo-kaku.com

https://instagram.com/sogokaku

https://www.facebook.com/share/1PAMjLBVmR/?mibextid=wwXIfr

(Todd Atkins)

https://www.instagram.com/toddatkinsshow_/

https://x.com/ToddAtkinsMMA/

https://youtube.com/@ToddAtkinsShow

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-todd-atkins-show/id1651930986

(Andrew Benjamin)

https://www.instagram.com/abenja1

https://x.com/abenja1

https://x.com/wearerizinpod

https://youtube.com/@wearerizinpodcast5159

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-are-rizin/id1520266182

Join like-minded Fight Fans on both the ⁠RIZIN FF Fans Discord Server⁠ & ⁠r/RIZINFF Subreddit⁠…..

And, you can check out Chris’ Handles as well as ours:

https://linktr.ee/focusfights

https://substack.com/@focusfightsproject

https://www.facebook.com/JChristianGary1992/

⁠http://twitter.com/JChrishGary

https://www.instagram.com/christiangary1992

https://cash.app/$JChrisGary

For the 1st time in a while (but really, it's been 5 months), we -- being Focus Fights Audio -- are pivoting our focus to chatting with fighters rather than putting over a specific fight card . (That will be for the next episode.)

In this episode, our "Chillmeister" J. Christian Gary spoke with two competitors who will be on the upcoming RIZIN 53 Card on May 10th at GLION Arena in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan (Ryan Cafaro, who will face Koyomi Matsushima, and Katie Perez, who will face Kate "LOTUS" Oyama) as well as someone who will be fighting on the upcoming Debut MMA Event for Most Valuable Promotions, May 16th at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, USA (Jake Babian).

Also, prior to the episode, there’s a couple of tributes to late British Wrestling Fan Marc Izard & WCW Alum Mark Hildreth aka “Van Hammer.”

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The GoFundMe Campaign for Marc Izard: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-bring-marc-izard-home-to-the-uk-a-true-wrestling-fan

Natalya Neidhart on Marc Izard’s passing: https://x.com/natbynature/status/2049112796504207461

Words from Marc Izard’s sister: https://x.com/perchedtoprope/status/2049080626448314470

News on Van Hammer’s passing: https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/wrestler-van-hammer-dead-wcw-37039923

You can check out RIZIN 53 on May 10th here: https://www.rizin.tv/featured-category/events/rizin-53

Also, the MVP MMA Event on May 16th: https://www.netflix.com/us/title/82718858?s=i&trkid=13747225&shareType=Title&shareUuid=DFC70946-3228-4D25-A729-80D1663E6BE5

Be sure to check out the fighters on their respective platforms:

(Ryan Kim “Korean Thunder” Cafaro)

https://www.instagram.com/ryancafaromma

https://x.com/ryancafaromma

https://www.facebook.com/ryan.k.cafaro

https://linktr.ee/RyanCafaroMMA

(“La Maquina Asesina” Katie Perez)

https://www.instagram.com/katiemaquinaasesina

https://x.com/kmaquinaasesina

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063552884375

(“The Barbabian” Jake Babian)

https://www.instagram.com/thebarbabian170

https://www.facebook.com/jake.t.babian

https://x.com/thebarbabian

https://youtube.com/@jakebabian1032

Check out these great platforms:

(Charles “C.J.” Jewett)

https://sogo-kaku.com

https://instagram.com/sogokaku

https://www.facebook.com/share/1PAMjLBVmR/?mibextid=wwXIfr

(Todd Atkins)

https://www.instagram.com/toddatkinsshow_/

https://x.com/ToddAtkinsMMA/

https://youtube.com/@ToddAtkinsShow

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-todd-atkins-show/id1651930986

(Andrew Benjamin)

https://www.instagram.com/abenja1

https://x.com/abenja1

https://x.com/wearerizinpod

https://youtube.com/@wearerizinpodcast5159

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-are-rizin/id1520266182

Join like-minded Fight Fans on both the ⁠RIZIN FF Fans Discord Server⁠ & ⁠r/RIZINFF Subreddit⁠…..

And, you can check out Chris’ Handles as well as ours:

https://linktr.ee/focusfights

https://substack.com/@focusfightsproject

https://www.facebook.com/JChristianGary1992/

⁠http://twitter.com/JChrishGary

https://www.instagram.com/christiangary1992

https://cash.app/$JChrisGary

Songs Used:

TSUBAKI - “Zarma Dub”

Dwayne Swazye & MVP - “Show Respect”

The poem spoken by J. Chrish at the end: https://x.com/schwingitt/status/2048980146875486529

(Original Air-Date: Apr. 15th, 2026)

(TIMESTAMPS ARE AVAILABLE)

• 0:00 Intro & Extended Disclaimer
• 2:22 Show Intro + Running Down the Week in Combat Sports (Jiri Losing, Tenshin Winning, Miyuu's Boxing Debut, BLACK COMBAT, Combate Global, etc.)
• 8:18 JChrish & JayWolf bash the trolls
• 9:53 JChrish talks to JustBleedFan about RIZIN Alums in action + the Prelims
• 12:14 Brief Review of the Prelims/All-Japan Undercard
• 14:36 The Differences Between RIZIN's PPVs & UFC Cash Grabs on Paramount+
• 16:42 A brief preview of 2 upcoming interviews
• 18:21 Thoughts on the Prelims/All-Japan Undercard
• 25:51 Shaydullaev KOs Kubo AGAIN (Who should Shay steamroll next? Should Kubo have just given up?)
• 36:36 Sabatello beats Goto (Should the "Get The Finish" Mentality apply to both Sabatello AND Hiromasa Ogikubo?)
• 54:50 Horie beat Patricky PITBULL in a fun fight (What's next for Horie? Is PITBULL's Career Clock ticking?)
• 1:02:37 Kaleo KOs Kyohei, gets a No Contest for missing weight (What's next for Kyohei? Should missed weight fighter's highlight be talked about?)
• 1:12:18 Azizbek KOs Ryuya (Is Temirov the next Eastern European Badass in RIZIN? Is Fukuda still a contender?)
• 1:18:21 Makoto SHINRYU forces "King Shaka" Zulu to tap out (Can Makoto tap out Ogikubo the same way?)
• 1:27:18 Natasha Kuziutina taps out Ayaka Hamasaki (Could the next RIZIN Super Atomweight Champion be the Russian Ronda Rousey with King Mo's help as Seika vacates her title to be a mom?) + Taio Asahisa KOs Singpayak
• 1:34:51 Majima taps out Gallagher (Kazumasa can still get it done! Also, what's next for The Strabanimal?)
• 1:40:07 Nurkhan Zhumagazy def. TENYA Yoshimura (Is Nurkhan still a star on the rise? What's next for TENYA despite the weight miss & backlash from Pancrase?)
• !:44:44 RIZIN Japan vs. The World Summary, Final Thoughts, Fight/Performance of the Night & Upcoming RIZIN Schedule
• 1:54:45 Does the previous week's bevy of fight kinda resemble WrestleMania like atmosphere? (This was recorded BEFORE Josh Barnett pulled the plug on his version of GCW's Bloodsport.)
• 2:00:00 Plugs & Show Outro

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Follow all of what ⁠RIZIN has in store here:

https://linktr.ee/rizinffofficial (Japanese)

https://linktr.ee/RIZINtv (English)

Join like-minded Fight Fans on both the ⁠RIZIN FF Fans Discord Server⁠ & ⁠r/RIZINFF Subreddit⁠…..

And, you can check out Chris & JayWolf’s Handles as well as ours & the others we put over:

https://linktr.ee/focusfights

https://substack.com/@focusfightsproject

https://www.facebook.com/JChristianGary1992/

⁠http://twitter.com/JChrishGary

https://www.instagram.com/christiangary1992

https://twitter.com/JayYolf1

https://twitter.com/WeAreRIZINPod

http://twitter.com/abenja1

http://instagram.com/abenja1

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Song Used:

Numtack05’s “RIZIN Theme Remix” (https://youtu.be/WcxWBLVRISU?si=G6zzdZA6SmtKYW4R)