RIZIN eight-man tournament bracket set, Ishii and Procházka among new names
RIZIN Fighting Federation has finally announced the match-ups of their 100 kg (200lb) grand-prix after conducting a tournament lottery to settle on the bouts.
Here are the tournament quarter-finals:
UFC veteran and former KSW champion Goran Reljić (15-5) will take on undefeated Russian finisher Vadim Nemkov (3-0).
Olympic gold-medalist Judoka Satoshi Ishii (14-4-1) will fight outside of IGF for the first time in two years when he faces Czech knockout artist Jiří “Denisa” Procházka (14-2-1).
Lithuanian kickboxer Teodoras Aukstuolis (6-2) will represent Bushido vs. current Jungle Fight heavyweight champion Bruno Cappelozza (7-3).
Former Strikeforce champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal (16-4) was set to represent Bellator MMA when he took on BAMMA heavyweight champion Godbeer, but will now fight a TBA replacement after an injury to Godbeer.
Reserve:
Russian Valentin Moldavsky (1-0) faces 24-year-old multi-time Karate World Champion Yuta Uchida (0-0).
As confirmed a few weeks ago, all of the fights listed above will take place on the RIZIN 1 card on Decemer 29. The semi-finals as well as the finals will take place on the RIZIN 2 card on December 31 headlined by Fedor Emelianenko.
No word on Mark Godbeer’s replacement yet, but it will likely be another fighter representing BAMMA in his place.
Still no name announced for Fedor’s opponent on the 31st, but one of the more recent names showing interest is current KSW heavyweight champion who just defeated Michal Kita via brutal headkick over the weekend.
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