Tony Laramie is the new RIZIN flyweight champion. The Canadian took the title from Makoto Shinryu in the main event of RIZIN 55 on Nov. 8 at LaLa arena TOKYO-BAY in Funabashi, Chiba. The result had an immediate ripple effect: a widely shared r/MMA post pointed out that Shinryu’s loss leaves every RIZIN division without a Japanese champion. The poster said they were “pretty sure” this is the first time that’s happened in the promotion’s 11-year history. That’s a fan’s tally rather than an official count, but nobody in the thread produced a counterexample.
Shinryu (listed by Cageside Press under his given name, Makoto Takahashi) was making his first defense after winning the belt this past June. He came in as the more seasoned man by a wide margin, with more than double Laramie’s experience, despite being a year younger. Both men made the 125.7-pound limit for the title fight, according to MMA Mania’s weigh-in numbers.
Laramie, 27, arrived on a three-fight win streak and a 4-1 mark inside RIZIN, so he leaves Japan 5-1 with the promotion and a belt. He’s the brother of former UFC fighter TJ Laramie and had already won titles on the Ontario regional scene with PFC and BTC. Cageside Press described him heading into the fight as one of Canada’s top prospects. That label is now out of date.
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The rest of the card had its own chaos. Mac Papalii pulled off a comeback knockout of Yukinori Akazawa in their heavyweight bout. Japanese commentator ジョビン wrote on X that Akazawa took Round 1 cleanly with takedowns and half guard pressure, got another takedown in Round 2 (through what he called blatant rope grabbing by Papalii), and then went for an ankle hold. Papalii survived it, punched his way out, and flattened Akazawa once they were back on the feet. ジョビン said Akazawa going for the leg lock was a fair gamble and that his performance was quite good anyway. I agree, and I’d make the same call nine times out of 10.
Kaleo Meheula vs. Kazuki Aimoto ended as a no contest, though ジョビン scored it as a complete Meheula win, with Meheula surviving an early leg attack and pouring on ground strikes until the referee stepped in during Round 2. Tsukasa Mizoguchi upset former Pancrase champion Taichi Nakajima; analyst Kenji Osawa, who had picked Nakajima by first-round choke, posted that he was seriously shocked by the result and apologized. Naoki Inoue and Yrysbek Tilenov met in a bantamweight title eliminator on the main card.
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On the prelims, Yajuro Yamasaki stopped Jake Wilkins with ground and pound at 4:58 of Round 1, Masachika Takahashi needed 25 seconds to finish Naohiro Matsumoto with punches, knees and soccer kicks, and Saw Thwee Waw Thaunt took a unanimous decision over Shunya Inoue.
My take: the stat about RIZIN having no Japanese champions will get more airtime in Japan than the fight itself, and that sells Laramie short. He beat a younger champion with twice his experience, on that champion’s home turf, in a first defense where the champ had every advantage of familiarity. Flyweight is the best division in RIZIN to watch right now, and its champion is a 27-year-old from Ontario who isn’t going anywhere. If RIZIN wants the belt back in Japanese hands, it needs to find a contender who can actually take it from him.
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