Roberto Satoshi made a name for himself in the jiu-jitsu circuit before transitioning to MMA and becoming the most dominant champion in RIZIN history, but there’s still a door open for him to return to grappling mats if the offer is right.
Satoshi, who looks for his sixth lightweight title defense on Dec. 31 in Saitama against Ilkhom Nazimov on the New Year’s Eve card, revealed he was offered matches with Mica Galvao, one of the greatest grapplers of this generation with wins in every single major IBJJF tournament in 2024, plus the ADCC gold.
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According to Satoshi, he was unable to get the deal done with ADXC because the first date was too close to RIZIN 48 in 2024, when he knocked out Luiz Gustavo to defend the title. The second ADXC offer was for later that year in Rio de Janeiro, a month before his scheduled RIZIN 49 title match with Vugar Karamov — he won via first-round triangle choke.
“[I liked it] because I never faced any of the new generation at lightweight,” Satoshi told MMA Fighting. “Unfortunately, I finished second at the [IBJJF] Worlds at lightweight in 2017 and ended up having to get shoulder surgery and right after that I started focusing 100 percent in MMA.
“That new generation, the Ruotolo brothers, Mica, that whole group at lightweight and middleweight, I never ended up facing them. So when the invitation came, I was very interested and accepted right away and everything, but when they gave me the dates, it was always something like one month before or one week after my MMA fights. So it didn’t work out.”
Satoshi hasn’t competed in grappling contests since February 2020, when he submitted five opponents in a row inside the RIZIN ring, and he likes to see the growth of the sport worldwide.
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“You can see how professional grappling has become, with athletes under contract, making good money and all that,” Satoshi said. “I think that’s really cool. I’m very happy because back when I competed grappling the money was good too, but nowadays you see things like Craig Jones [Invitational] paying a million dollars. That’s really cool. It’s exciting to see that maybe jiu-jitsu as a whole not so much yet, but grappling has really taken a step forward.”
Despite his interest in facing the elite of grappling in special events, Satoshi remains fully focused on his career as a mixed martial artist. The 36-year-old lightweight is currently riding a five-fight finishing streak — all in the first round — to boost his professional record to 20-3.
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“I think jiu-jitsu is really cool for competing and everything,” Satoshi said, “but right now my focus is whatever I can dedicate myself to in order to build and increase my legacy in MMA. Even from a financial standpoint, I prefer to focus more on MMA. Maybe when I retire from MMA, when I’m no longer doing this to make money and earn a living, I’d like to go back to competing in jiu-jitsu. But it would be more like that kind of thing, an event in the United States, an Open here or there, more as a hobby. For my career and my legacy, I think I’m going to focus 100 percent in MMA, which is tough right now. It’s not getting any easier [laughs].”
