Japanese promotion Rizin FF has confirmed a clutch of new matchups for their end-of-year event, as well as their contributions to Bellator 237.
Rizin FF 20 takes place Dec. 31 at Saitama Super Arena in Japan. In the night’s headliner, [autotag]Manel Kape[/autotag] (14-4) has been added to face the previously announced [autotag]Kai Asakura[/autotag] (14-1) for the Rizin bantamweight title recently vacated by the injured Kyoji Horiguchi.
That brings the total number of Rizin title fights on the card to three.
A host of other fight bookings has also been made for the event, with Russia’s [autotag]Vitaly Shemetov[/autotag] (23-10) vs. EFC light heavyweight champion [autotag]Simon Biyong[/autotag] (6-1), [autotag]Jake Heun[/autotag] (14-9) vs. Olympic gold medalist [autotag]Satoshi Ishii[/autotag] (22-10-1) and former Pancrase bantamweight champion [autotag]Shintaro Ishiwatari[/autotag] (26-7-4) will take on “The Ultimate Fighter 24” runner-up [autotag]Hiromasa Ogikubo[/autotag] (19-4-2) in a bantamweight title eliminator, with the winner set to face the winner of the Asakura-Kape matchup early in 2020.
Rizin also announced a pair of new matchups for their co-promoted Dec. 29 event, Bellator 237, with 2017 Rizin grand prix champion [autotag]Kanna Asakura[/autotag] (15-4) set to face [autotag]Jayme Hinshaw[/autotag] (4-3), while heavyweights are set to collide as Japan’s [autotag]Shoma Shibisai[/autotag] (5-2) takes on Russia’s [autotag]Sergey Shemetov[/autotag] (9-6).
Rizin FF 20 confirmed fights include:
- Kai Asakura vs. Manel Kape – for vacant bantamweight title
- Champ Jiri Prochazka vs. C.B. Dollaway – for light heavyweight title
- Champ Ayaka Hamasaki vs. Seo Hee Ham – for super atomweight title
- Johnny Case vs. Tofiq Musaev – lightweight grand prix semifinal
- Patricky “Pitbull” Freire vs. Luiz Gustavo – lightweight grand prix semifinal
- Patrick Mix vs. Yuki Motoya
- Mikuru Asakura vs. John Teixeira
- Simon Biyong vs. Vitaly Shemetov
- Jake Heun vs. Satoshi Ishii
- Rena Kubota vs. Lindsey Vanzandt
- Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo
* * * *
Bellator 237 confirmed fights include:
MAIN CARD
- Fedor Emelianenko vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
- Michael Chandler vs. Benson Henderson
- Lorenz Larkin vs. Keita Nakamura
- Ilara Joanne vs. Kana Watanabe
- Daron Cruickshank vs. Goiti Yamauchi
POSTLIMS
- Andy Nguyen vs. Ai Shimizu
- Ryuichiro Sumimura vs. Jon Tuck
- Jarred Brooks vs. Haruo Ochi
- Hiroto Uesako vs. Yusuke Yachi
- Kanna Asakura vs. Jayme Hinshaw
- Sergey Shemetov vs. Shoma Shibisai