Midnight Mania! Rizin 20 Draws Worst NYE Ratings In Promotion’s History

Photo by Masashi Hara/Getty Images

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Rizin 20 was objectively a pretty awesome event. The fights were fun, the knockouts were many, and the Lightweight Grand Prix actually played out well without any injuries throwing a wrench into plans. Plus, unlike Bellator Japan the night before, it was not an event propped up on the backs of faded legends — Rizin 20 was carried by its young talent.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to draw as many eyes in Japan as previous years. Per a report from Sponchi.co.jp, the Rizin 20 ratings are the worst in the promotion’s five-year history of holding New Year’s Eve events.

Here are the numbers, pulled out by someone with presumably better Japanese reading skills than myself.

Uninspired television ratings are rarely a good thing, but it does make sense that there was a drop off this year considering the lack of Floyd Mayweather. Plus, the event also reportedly sold out all 26,000 seats in the Saitama Super Arena, so that’s a solid silver lining for the Japanese promotion.

Insomnia

Michael Chandler wants to throw hands in Japan again, and I’m here for it. He’d be a tremendous match up for Tofiq Musafaev if nothing else.

Let’s take a poll to see if Petr Yan is right.

The Internet would never lie!

A lesson from one of the best trainers in the game, who also gives great, honest answers when interviewed: Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.

Haggerty Vs. Rodtang 2 is going to be an awesome fight.

Who throws the first punch, and who is its target?

New Years’ remix, Platinum edition.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Here’s a pretty badass montage of clean knockouts.

In case someone doesn’t have time for the whole clip above, here’s a real quick one.

This is one of the more interesting jump triangle setups I’ve seen!

Random Land

This is the wildest clip I’ve ever seen — a mildly disturbing must-watch.

Midnight Music: Every once in a while, things just play out perfectly. We were wondering around our new island (Koh Lanta) and taking it all in, deciding which of the dozens of restaurants to chose from. We landed on The Garden, mostly because my girlfriend likes plants, and it turned out to have incredible food, a very pleasant nature setting, and an awesome cover band who pumped out soft renditions of ‘70s hits.

I already posted a Beatles song this week, so I won’t pick “Imagine” from their set list, but there wasn’t a bad choice on there.

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.