Jiri Prochazka will defend his light heavyweight title against UFC veteran C.B. Dollaway at Rizin 20 on New Year’s Eve.
The Japanese promotion recently announced the booking. Rizin 20 takes place on Dec. 31 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama Japan and will also see Kai Asakura square off against Manel Kape for the vacant bantamweight crown. Asakura was initially supposed to face reigning champion Kyoji Horiguchi, but the American Top Team representative suffered a serious knee injury and vacated his belt.
Prochazka is currently on a nine-bout winning streak. During that time, the 27-year-old Czech Republic native has earned victories against the likes of Fabio Maldonado, Muhammed Lawal, Brandon Halsey, Jake Heun and Karl Albrektsson, among others. He owns a 25-3-1 professional mark overall.
Dollaway, meanwhile, parts ways with the UFC after a 20-bout stint with the promotion dating back to 2008. Dollaway is still serving a two-year USADA suspension after testing positive for multiple banned substances in December 2018. “The Doberman” is still technically ineligible to compete until December 2020, but that won’t prevent him from fighting with Rizin in Japan, as the promotion does not generally recognize USADA sanctions.
Asakura rose to prominence on the strength of a 68-second knockout of Horiguchi in a non-title bout at Rizin 18. He fought again at Rizin 19, where he stopped Yuta Sasaki in 54 seconds to improve to 14-1 in his professional career. Asakura defeated Kape via split decision in their first meeting at Rizin 10.
The 26-year-old old Kape enters the rematch with Asakura having won three of his last four Rizin appearances. Most recently, Kape knocked out Takeya Mizugaki in the second round at Rizin 18.
Meanwhile, Shintaro Ishiwatari will square off against Hiromasa Ogikubo in another bantamweight bout to determine the next No. 1 contender. Additionally, Satoshi Ishii will face Heun at heavyweight and Vitaly Shemetov will lock horns with Simon Biyong in a light heavyweight contest at the event.
Additionally, three contests were announced for the Bellator “Japan” postlims: Kanna Asakura vs. Jayme Hinshaw at atomweight; Shoma Sibisai vs. Sergei Shemetov at heavyweight and Ben Hiramoto vs. Takahiro Ashida in a kickboxing contest.