Shinya Aoki to retire after New Year's Eve fight with Taisei Sakuraba at Super RIZIN 6
Shinya Aoki will retire from MMA after one last fight on Thursday, December 31, 2026, against Taisei Sakuraba at Super RIZIN 6 at Vantelin Dome Nagoya. RIZIN CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced the bout in the ring during the break at RIZIN 55 at LaLa Arena Tokyo-Bay in Chiba on Sunday, November 8, according to Japanese outlet Oricon.
What was announced
RIZIN's official account billed the bout as the "Shinya Aoki retirement fight". It will be held under RIZIN MMA rules, three five-minute rounds at 71 kg. RIZIN lists doors at 11:00 and the first fight at 13:00 Japan time, both marked as planned. That is 05:00 Central European Time on New Year's Eve. The time of the Aoki fight itself has not been announced.
What Aoki and Sakuraba said
Aoki walked to the ring to his entrance song and bowed deeply. "Hello. I'm Shinya Aoki, and I will retire from MMA as of December 31, 2026," he said, according to Oricon, adding that he had been told he would be allowed to have his last fight on that date and thanking the crowd.
Taisei Sakuraba was called into the ring as his opponent. He broke his jaw in a loss to Luiz Gustavo at RIZIN 53 in March and missed the September card he had hoped to return on. "So on New Year's Eve I'll hold my own one-man comeback," he said with a grin, per Oricon's report. "Aoki, I'll finish you off with love."
The Sakuraba family history
The two men have no personal history, Oricon notes, but the family link is the story behind the booking. Aoki beat Kazushi Sakuraba at RIZIN's first event on December 29, 2015, when Sakuraba's corner stopped the fight in the first round. RIZIN's own post calls Aoki the last opponent of Kazushi Sakuraba's MMA career, and Pugna MMA's database also lists that loss as his final bout, with a record of 26-17-1 and 2 no contests.
Taisei Sakuraba was a high school student at the time. He later worked a company job before turning pro and now fights as a young judo-based prospect, according to Oricon.
Aoki's record and career
Aoki went on to spend roughly a decade competing for ONE Championship, where he was lightweight champion, according to MMA Fighting. He returned to RIZIN at Super RIZIN 5 in Osaka in September 2026, facing Mikuru Asakura in the co-main event.
Pugna MMA's database has Aoki at 48-11-0 with 1 no contest, with 32 of his wins by submission, 10 by decision and 4 by knockout or TKO. His last fight in the database is an armbar win over Eduard Folayang at ONE 172 in March 2025, so his September 2026 bout is not included yet.
Super RIZIN 6 card so far
As of November 8, Oricon lists these bouts among others on the card:
- Razhabali Shaidulloev vs. Kyoma Akimoto, featherweight title
- Luiz Gustavo vs. Mikuru Asakura
- Saori Oshima vs. Natasha Kujutina, super atomweight title
- Tsuyoshi Sudario vs. Edporo King, heavyweight grand prix final
- Chihiro Suzuki vs. YA-MAN
- Shinya Aoki vs. Taisei Sakuraba, Aoki's retirement fight
The card is still being built, and RIZIN's event page did not yet list the Aoki bout when we checked it.
Aoki's career ran from the early days of the Japanese MMA boom through RIZIN's launch and his years in ONE Championship. New Year's Eve, the traditional date for big Japanese combat sports shows, gives fans one more chance to see him compete.
Who wins Aoki vs. Sakuraba? Make your free pick for every Super RIZIN 6 fight in the Pugna MMA app and follow the results live, round by round. No money involved.
Sources
This article was generated with AI and may contain errors.