Rizin Fighting Federation featherweight champion Juntaro
Ushiku will defend his crown against Kleber
Koike Erbst in the Rizin
39 main event on Oct. 23.
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The Japanese promotion recently announced the booking, along with
the following bouts: Koji Takeda
vs. Zach
Zane at lightweight; Motonobu
Tezuka vs. Mehman
Mamedov at bantamweight; Vugar
Karamov vs. Yoshiki
Nakahara at featherweight and Daichi Abe
vs. Yukinari
Tamura at welterweight.
Ushiku, who is also the reigning Deep champion, claimed Rizin gold
with a second-round stoppage of Yutaka
Saito at Rizin 31 this past October. He defended the crown with
a unanimous verdict against Saito in a rematch at Rizin 35 on April
17. The 27-year-old Tokyo native has won 10 of his last 11
professional outings and is 20-6 over the course of his career.
A former KSW title holder, Erbst has kicked off his Rizin tenure
with five consecutive submission triumphs. Most recently, he
dispatched Kyohei
Hagiwara in the opening stanza of their clash at Rizin
“Landmark Vol. 3” on May 5. The 32-year-old Sao Paulo native has
won 12 of his last 13 bouts, with his only defeat during that
stretch coming at the hands of current UFC talent Mateusz
Gamrot. Erbst’s 30-5-1 career mark includes 26 wins by way of
submission.
Rizin 39 takes place at Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan.