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— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English)
March 19, 2024
Rizin
Landmark 9 will take place on March 23 at World Memorial Hall
in Kobe, Japan.
The Landmark series card replaced Rizn
46, which was the originally planned card for the date and
venue.
Reigning lightweight champ Roberto
Satoshi de Souza (15-3) will take on Keita
Nakamura (36-11) in a non-title affair in the main event. The
bout is scheduled for three five-minute rounds under Rizin mixed
martial arts rules, which allow knees and kicks to the head of a
grounded opponent.
De Souza’s five-fight winning streak, which included three title
fights, was snapped by a decision loss to A.J. McKee in
a non-title bout at the first Rizin vs. Bellator event in 2022. The
Japanese Brazilian bounced back with a decision win over Spike
Carlyle, but went on to suffer a stoppage loss via leg kicks
against Patricky
Freire in another non-title Bellator vs. Rizin tilt in his last
outing in July 2023.
Meanwhile, Nakamura scored a first-round stoppage win over Marcos
Yoshio Souza in his Rizin debut in 2019 after being released
from the
Ultimate Fighting Championship. “K-Taro” then went on to suffer
a unanimous decision loss against Lorenz
Larkin, which was followed by a long hiatus. The 39-year-old
returned to action after more than three years in April 2023,
scoring a Round 2 knockout win over Kiichi
Kunimoto.
Koji
Takeda (15-6) will face Kyohei
Hagiwara (7-8) in a featherweight bout on the main card. Takeda
is on a three-fight slump and Hagiwara has dropped four of his last
five.
Another UFC veteran, Naoki Inoue
(16-4), will face former Shooto champion Shoko Sato
(35-15) in a bantamweight matchup. Inoue started his Rizin career
on a five-fight winning streak but has since dropped two of his
last three. Meanwhile, Sato is on a two-fight winning streak that
includes a split-decision victory over Shinobu Ota
in his Rizin debut last October.
The card also features a women’s 108-pound catchweight clash
between Rena Kubota
(13-5) and Yu Ri Shim
(6-3). Kubota is 1-2 in her last three and will return to action
following a kneebar submission loss to Claire
Lopez in April 2023. Meanwhile, Shim will be making her Rizin
debut after winning the
Road FC atomweight title with a split decision victory over
Jeong Eun
Park in September 2021. The card will also feature four
kickboxing contests.