Bout order set for RIZIN NYE double-header
The Saitama Super Arena will be home to two stacked MMA shows on NYE courtesy of RIZIN Fighting Federation.
The doubleheader will consist of an early ‘RIZIN: Yarennoka!’ fight card featuring seven bouts before the stacked 14-fight card that is RIZIN 14.
Starting with ‘Yarennoka!’, the show will kick off with Kawamura Nanaka taking on Ai Shimizu before two kickboxing bouts featuring Yuta Uchida and Yoshiya Uzatsuyo. The fourth fight of the night is one of the best of the weekend, as Kai Asakura looks for revenge against Jae Hoon Moon. It’ll be another rematch afterward, as Kana Watanabe looks to make it 2-0 vs. Shizuka Sugiyama. In the two final fights of the show, Kai’s brother Mikuru Asakura faces Takeshi Lion before MMA legends Tatsuya Kawajiri and Satoru Kitaoka face-off in the main event.
RIZIN 14 opens up with fan-favorite RENA as she takes on Samanta Jean-Francois. Then we see a very compelling lightweight clash between promotional newcomers Nobumitsu Tyson and Tofiq Musayev before the return of Shinju Nozawa. In the fourth fight of the night, UFC-veteran Ulka Sasaki debuts against Manel Kape, immediately followed by another UFC-veteran’s debut as Justin Scoggins faces Yuki Motoya. KRAZY BEE athlete Yusuke Yachi looks to get back to his winning ways against Johnny Case before Kazuyuki Miyata has the final fight of his career vs. Erson Yamamoto.
After the seven opening bouts, RIZIN 14 will see it’s first (and only) intermission.
When the show returns from intermission, Miyuu Yamamoto will look to continue her winning ways against Mika Nagano. In the ninth fight of the night, it’s another lightweight banger as Daron Cruickshank will face Damien Brown. In the third fight back from intermission, Gabi Garcia makes her return before Jiri Prochazka faces former Bellator title-holder Brandon Halsey.
In the final three fights of the night, Kanna Asakura will face Ayaka Hamasaki to crown the first ever RIZIN Atomweight Champion. The co-main event sees equally high-stakes, with Kyoji Horiguchi taking on Bellator title-holder Darrion Cruickshank to crown an inaugural RIZIN Bantamweight Champion.
And finally, the main event. Floyd Mayweather will face Tenshin Nasukawa in an exhibition boxing match-up.
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For weeks RIZIN has been in no rush to make an announcement regarding where either event would be viewable outside of Japan. In fact, they have still not made an announcement on the matter.
Sources close to the situation, however, have confirmed with MMASucka that an announcement is imminent that will confirm RIZIN & FITE TV will partner up once again for NYE.
It is unclear whether this means both shows will be on FITE TV, or just RIZIN 14. We’ll know more when the deal is officially announced. And, given the fact we are a week away, they should probably be on top of that by now.
