Seika Izawa held on to the top spot in the women’s super atomweight rankings with a razor-thin Split Decision victory on December 31st at Rizin Fighting Federation 40 in Saitama, Japan. Izawa defeated Si Woo Park in the finals of the 2022 Rizin FF Women’s Super Atomweight Grand Prix.
In December UFC action, Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz fought to a Split Draw in their UFC 282 main event, which had been intended to crown a new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. At middleweight, Jared “The Killa Gorilla” Cannonier edged Sean “Tarzan” Strickland at UFC Fight Night 216.