Rizin
Landmark, Vol. 7 truly earns its name, as it will mark the
promotion’s first foray outside Japan.
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The latest iteration of Rizin’s Landmark series is slated to go
down at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan on Nov.
4. According to a press release from the promotion, the host
country will be represented in five out of the 10 total fights, all
set to take place after the intermission. The event will stream on
pay-per-view through Fite.tv.
The five Azerbaijani fighters on the card include featherweight
champ Vugar
Karamov and former lightweight titleholder Tofiq
Musayev, as well as Mehman
Mammadov, Tural
Ragimov and Nariman
Abbasov, who will take on opponents from Japan, the USA, South
Korea and Russia respectively. All fights will be contested under
Rizin rules, which allow kicks and knees to the head of a grounded
opponent.
Karamov will defend his strap in the main event of the night
against Chihiro
Suzuki (11-3) of Japan. Karamov dethroned Mikuru
Asakura via first-round submission back in July to be crowned
the new champ while also extending his winning streak to four,
including three finishes.
Meanwhile, Suzuki is riding the momentum of a seven-fight unbeaten
run topped off by a highlight-reel knockout win over Bellator
MMA featherweight champ Patricio
Freire in July. In a bout that was finalized on short notice,
Suzuki knocked out “Pitbull” in the first round in arguably the
greatest upset in Bellator and Rizin’s cross-promotional
history.
Musayev will take on Japan’s Koji Takeda
(15-5) in the co-main event. Musayev has gone 2-2 in his last four
outings with all of them ending in stoppages. In his most recent
fight back in July, the Azerbaijani scored a second-round knockout
over Akira Okada
of Japan. Meanwhile, his opponent Takeda is coming off consecutive
decision losses against Gadzhi
Rabadanov and Luiz
Gustavo.