Johnny Case vs. Koji Takeda added to RIZIN 37

The stacked RIZIN 37 card just got bigger thanks to the addition of a lightweight affair between Johnny Case and Koji Takeda. The event will take place on July 31 at Saitama Super Arena and it will be based around Atomweight Grand Prix. 

Additional Fight announcement for RIZIN.37

Johnny Case vs. Koji Takeda#RIZIN #RIZIN37 pic.twitter.com/cP2ViXzAt9

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) July 14, 2022

Case, UFC alumni, and the two-sport athlete will make his return to RIZIN’s white ring after more than 2-year hiatus. In his last outing, he took on the inaugural and reigning lightweight champion, Roberto Satoshi Souza at RIZIN 35. It ended with his second defeat in the promotion, with the first one taking place at RIZIN 20 against Tofiq Musayev. ‘Hollywood’ and Brazilian-born Japanese met previously at RIZIN 19 with the American taking the win by first-round TKO. Between his two losses in MMA, he stacked up three consecutive wins in boxing. Now he will be looking to change his luck, as he takes on the former DEEP lightweight champion.

This will be Takeda’s 7th fight in RIZIN. A DEEP veteran, who was enjoying an eight-fight winning streak before making his debut at RIZIN 15. He tasted his first defeat at the hands of Damien Brown, who was awarded victory by the judges. After that, he made his way back to the winning column in both DEEP and RIZIN by stacking up a four-fight winning streak, which was put to an end by Yusuke Yachi at RIZIN 30. Takeda bounced by defeating Noah Bey at RIZIN 33, he has been defeated for the third time by Spike Claryle at RIZIN 35. 

For both fighters, this is an opportunity to make a statement and make a first step on the road to the contender’s status. 

Most recently RIZIN posted a trailer for the upcoming event:

RIZIN 37 Fight Card: 

Naoki Inoue vs. Kenta Takizawa 

Rena Kubota vs. Anastasiya Svetkivska (RIZIN AW GP)

Kanna Asakura vs. Si Woo Park (RIZIN AW GP)

Ayaka Hamasaki vs. Jessica Aguilar (RIZIN AW GP)

Seika Izawa vs. Laura Fontoura (RIZIN AW GP)

Sora Yamamoto vs. Vugar Karamov 

Marcos Souza vs Daichi Abe 

Hideo Tokoro vs. Makoto Takahashi 

Yuki Motoya vs. Shinobu Ota

Johnny Case vs. Koji Takeda 

Hideki Sekine vs. Tsuyoshi Sudario

Ulka Sasaki vs. Yoshiki Nakahara

Kota Miura vs. Felipe Masoni

Yushi vs. Haruki