Wild bear attack almost canceled MMA event with nearly 10,000 in attendance

MMA event Rizin 43 came close to cancellation for the weirdest of reasons. The area witnessed bear sightings days before the Rizin Fighting Federation event. The resultant fear cast a shadow of doubt on the promotion’s inaugural event in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Needless to say, necessary provisions were made to ensure safety and the fighters produced historical MMA performances.

Shingo Kashiwagi, Rizin matchmaker and co-host of Broadened Horizin podcast shared the details of this incident on episode 29 of the podcast and explained that Rizin was still able to put on an amazing event. He explained:

“We had to fight off three bears. Like, real bears. There were three bear sightings on the premises a couple of days before our event. So the city didn’t want us o hold the event. They were like, ‘Can you cancel?’ Because there were wild bear sightings. They did not want 6,000 to 10,000 people around the bears.”

He further stated that they had to enhance security and fence off many areas so that the event could take place in a secure environment.

You can watch Shingo Kashiwagi explain the incident from the 01:42:50 mark of the video below:

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Rizin 43 delivered a memorable experience to MMA fans

Rizin 43 event was headlined by a featherweight clash between Kleber Koibe Erbst and Chichiro Suzuki and featured 17 fights in total. A staggering 14 MMA fights ended in finishes on the card with eight knockouts and six submissions.

In the main event, the reigning Rizin featherweight champion Erbst finished Suzuki via first-round submission. However, he had missed the weight heading into the fight and the result was overturned to a no-contest.

Irrespective of the ambiguity surrounding the event, fighters performed to the best of their abilities and entertained the fans at Rizin 43.