As promised, I've put together a high level overview on RIZIN rules/judging methodologies and elements considered in the judge scorecards (MMA only). Please follow the thread below

As most of you already know, RIZIN doesn't operate via the Unified Rules of MMA. Matches are scored as a whole rather than on a round by round basis. The elements which RIZIN take into consideration are "Damage caused to the opponent", "Aggressiveness" and "Generalship".

(1) Damage: When assessing damage, both striking and grappling are given the same weight. The judges will place value on the extent to which the effective striking or grappling "influences the match".

In other words, judges will take into consideration whether there was such damage/advantage to the fighter which would have led to the fight being ended by the opponent tapping out or being knocked out.

(2) Aggressiveness: the judges will consider which fighter was more effective in delivering attacks which may end the fight in a finish. Note this element does not take into consideration the actual IMPACT of damage caused by the fighter's strikes, throws or submission.

Rather, the judges will place value on whether fighters were aggressive and proactive in their approach during the fight.

(3) Generalship: the judges will consider which fighter was more effective in dominating the pace, place and position of the fight. Judges will also consider the amount of time spent in a ground position or the standing position.

Below is a judge scorecard from the recent RIZIN25 card. This is Ougikubo vs Takizawa where we saw Ougikubo win by UD. All three judges scored 50 for damage. Two of the judges scored 30 for aggressiveness, one judge gave zero for both. All three judges gave 20 for generalship.

As you can see, RIZIN's scoring system works so that the damage is given the most weight, followed by aggressiveness and generalship. Further, all elements are either given a score or zero - there is no in between.

Here is the FW title match scorecard (which I'm sure everyone is most interested in). Saito won by UD. All three judges gave zero on damage for both sides. Two of the judges gave 30 for aggressiveness, one gave zero to both. All three judges scored 20 for generalship.

Let's take a look at another one - Saomoto vs Kitakata. Saomoto won by UD. Here, all three judges gave zero to both sides for damage or aggressiveness. All three judges gave Saomoto 20 for generalship.

I guess a question some of you may be wondering is: what if a fighter wins by damage (50) but the opponent wins by aggressiveness (30) and generalship (20)? The winner is the one who won by 'damage' as at the very core, judges are assessing which fighter was closer to a finish.

In an interview, RIZIN executive Sasahara takes the example of Ishiwatari vs Horiguchi at the 2017 RIZIN BW GP. Horiguchi won the fight by KO but had Ishiwatari been saved by the bell, that is a clear example where the judges would have scored for damage.

At the end of the day, I am no expert but I think we can draw some conclusions that (i) whilst damage inevitably sits at the top of the judging criteria, it appears to be given weight only to the extent that it is effective enough to potentially call the fight to a finish; and

(ii) a key factor is aggressiveness in the approach of the fighters, i.e. those who are passive will not be favoured strongly. I haven't seen these scorecards being revealed before but personally I think it's really interesting to be able to see a glimpse of these scorecards.

The full RIZIN25 scorecards can be viewed here (Japanese only): https://www.mmaofficials.jp/20201121_rizin/ 

The interview between Sasahara and Jan Saito for the kakutogi publication "Drop Kick" can be read here (all Japanese, only partly free): https://ch.nicovideo.jp/dropkick/blomaga/ar1970553

The RIZIN rules can be read here (Japanese only): https://jp.rizinff.com/rule