Rizin Fighting Federation’s next numbered event
may seem light on star power, but it is chock full of excitement
potential.
Per a press release by the organization on Friday morning, the
Rizin
34 card on March 20 is now complete. The event will be held
inside the Maruzen Intec Arena in Osaka, Japan, and a whopping 17
fights will be staged throughout the night. Nine of those contests
will take place under MMA rules, and the remaining bouts will be
kickboxing. The bout order may not be official, as the organization
has listed its kickboxing matches first and then the MMA
fights.
A welterweight clash has been added to the billing, as ex-Ultimate Fighting Championship competitors
Kiichi
Kunimoto (20-8-2, 1 NC) and Daichi Abe
(9-5) throw down. “Strasser” has not tasted a defeat in the Rizin
ring, and those three victories have accounted for his lone wins
since leaving the UFC in 2017. His opponent Abe made his
promotional debut at Rizin 31 in October 2021, where he ultimately
succumbed to the second north-south choke in Rizin history as he
had his three-fight win streak snapped by Akira
Okada.
Other key MMA tilts on this marathon evening in Japan include a
lightweight battle pitting Juri Ohara
(29-17-2, 1 NC) against the aforementioned Okada (17-8-4), an
encounter at 145 pounds between Satoshi
Yamasu (11-6) and Kyohei
Hagiwara (6-4) and a featherweight tilt as Daisuke
Nakamura (32-20-1) takes on Sora
Yamamoto (9-4).
Rizin 34 Lineup
Kiichi
Kunimoto vs. Daichi Abe –
welterweight
Juri
Ohara vs. Akira Okada
– lightweight
Satoshi
Yamasu vs. Kyohei
Hagiwara – featherweight
Daisuke
Nakamura vs. Sora
Yamamoto – featherweight
Ryuki
Kaneda vs. Ayumu
Yamamoto – 139-pound catchweight
Alan
Yamaniha vs. Motonobu
Tezuka – bantamweight
Ryuya
Fukuda vs. Masayuki
Watanabe – 132-pound catchweight
Daichi
Kitakata vs. Yutaro
Muramoto – flyweight
Tatsuki
Saomoto vs. Yuto Uda –
flyweight
Yuya vs. Yousuke Yamato – lightweight kickboxing
Masaya Jaki vs. Kouta – lightweight kickboxing
Yuma Yamahata vs. Sho Ogawa – 139-pound catchweight kickboxing
Kouzi vs. Genji Umeno – bantamweight kickboxing
Taiga vs. Ryo Takahashi – bantamweight kickboxing
Yuuki Kashihara vs. Motoki – bantamweight kickboxing
Sato Ryo vs. Shun – 132-pound catchweight kickboxing
Jin Mandokoro vs. Sato Syuto – 117-pound catchweight kickboxing