Fight announcement for RIZIN.36
Kai Asakura vs. Ji Yong Yang#RIZIN
#RIZIN36 pic.twitter.com/YxLR471cjT— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English)
June 1, 2022
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Rizin Fighting Federation is putting a little
more into its sophomore trip to the Japanese island of Okinawa.
On Wednesday, the promotion released the lion’s share of its
13-bout Rizin
36 lineup on Twitter, one that includes
11 MMA matches and two under kickboxing rules. On Friday, via press
release, Rizin confirmed the fights, made official the bout order
and provided a statement from the head of the company. The event
will be held inside the Okinawa Arena in Okinawa, Japan, on July 2.
According to the press release, the broadcast will only be
available with Japanese commentary and texts, although that could
change in the coming month.
Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced the fights in a press
conference while providing updates on the card, stating, “We are
very excited to be back in Okinawa after a successful regional
debut. We will be having several local stars from legends to
prospects who are motivated to showcase their skills on a major
platform. We are excited to put on an event with full capacity and
continue coming back to the wonderful island of Okinawa. We will
start to pick up the pace of events starting this summer, and am
looking at seven-eight more events for the rest of the year.”
Headlining the show is a bantamweight scrap between ex-champ
Kai
Asakura (19-4) and unbeaten Rizin debutant Ji Yong
Yang (4-0) from South Korea. The favorite for the Rizin 2021
bantamweight tourney, Asakura made it to the finals and fell short
to Hiromasa
Ougikubo. That loss put an end to a three-fight win streak,
with all of those three victories coming in 2021. Throughout a
Rizin career that began in 2017, Asakura holds the second-most
victories and third-most knockouts as he sits on the leaderboard
for many categories. His opponent Yang made his pro debut in July
2020, with wins over four foes that combined for a record of
8-1.
Drawing the co-headlining assignment is a lightweight clash when
Kohei
Tokeshi (6-8) meets Atsushi
Kishimoto (6-6-2). Tokeshi earned his first Rizin win in
February when he knocked out Harry
Stallone in the cage-based Trigger 2nd event, while Kishimoto
will be making his Rizin debut on the heels of two wins in the last
two years. Other noteworthy matchups include a featherweight tilt
between Kyle Aguon
(14-10) and Sora
Yamamoto (11-4), and two super atomweight (108 pounds) pairings
between Miyuu
Yamamoto (6-6) and Saori
Oshima (8-3) and Mizuki
Oshiro (4-5) and Moeri Suda
(5-3) with atomweight ranking stakes on the line.
Rizin 36 Lineup:
Kai
Asakura vs. Ji Yong
Yang – bantamweight
Kohei
Tokeshi vs. Atsushi
Kishimoto – lightweight
Tanner
Lourenco vs. Oriya
Oshiro – lightweight
Hiroaki
Suzuki vs. Ren
Hiramoto – featherweight
Kyle
Aguon vs. Sora
Yamamoto – featherweight
Yutaro
Muramoto vs. Shinichi
Kojima – flyweight
Yuki
Ito vs. Yuichi
Miyagi – flyweight
Yamato
Fujita vs. Tatsuya So –
flyweight
Mitsuhisa
Sunabe vs. Nobuyoshi
Nakatsukasa – 119-pound catchweight
Miyuu
Yamamoto vs. Saori
Oshima – super atomweight
Mizuki
Oshiro vs. Moeri Suda –
super atomweight
Katsumi Miyagi vs. Yuki Yoshino – 160-pound catchweight
kickboxing
Taiga vs. Soichiro Mita – bantamweight kickboxing