Last week RIZIN announced a blockbuster match-up for NYE between Floyd Mayweather and Tenshin Nasukawa. After tickets sold out, Mayweather didn’t take long to put the “rumors” to rest, claiming the fight was not happening.
Finally, nearly one week to the day of the announcement, RIZIN Fighting Federation has issued a statement on the confusing cluster. Here is an English translation of their Japanese statement.
“At a press conference held on November 5, 2018, we at RIZIN announced that the RIZIN 14 fight card at the Saitama Super Arena on December 31, 2018, would be headlined by Floyd Mayweather vs. Tenshin Nasukawa. However, shortly after this announcement, Mr. Mayweather himself made an announcement through social media. This message seemed to be insisting that the match had been canceled, and we sincerely apologize for this confusion.”
“RIZIN Chairman, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, is currently holding discussions towards carrying out the match based on the original contract between our promotion and Mr. Mayweather. This based on the basic agreement we initially did have with Mr. Mayweather. We hope to have a clearer announcement next week.”
“In truth, we would like to make a clearer announcement now. Unfortunately, as of writing, we are not in the position to report our current negotiating situation to you all. Thus, this statement will concern out ongoing developments. Sadly, we are afraid to inform you all that we will be needing more time. Again, we sincerely apologize for the confusion and concern this has been causing.”
There you have it. No news, necessarily. But it’s good to see RIZIN finally address this mess first-hand. Per usual, MMASucka will keep you posted as talks continue. Hopefully, we get official word on what is happening next week sometime.
As of now, RIZIN 14 has no fights announced. Considering we are a month and a half away, this should change in the very near future.
