Additional fight announcement for
RIZIN.26Mikuru Asakura vs. Satoshi”Dominator”Yamasu#RIZIN
#RIZIN26 pic.twitter.com/4CIkg7yDMz— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English)
December 10, 2020
Rizin Fighting Federation is jamming its final
event of the year full of MMA fights. Per a press release on Thursday, four new bouts including three
under MMA rules and one in kickboxing have been added to Rizin
26. The year-end card will be held in the Saitama Super Arena
in Saitama, Japan, with a limited number of fans allowed in the
building. Unlike past years, there will only be a single card for
New Year’s Eve, and 12 bouts are currently slated for the card. The
event will be buoyed by a bantamweight title fight between Kai Asakura
and Kyoji
Horiguchi.
The new MMA fights include a 150-pound catchweight contest of
Mikuru
Asakura (13-2, 1 NC) against Satoshi
Yamasu (11-5), a featherweight scrap between Kleber
Koike Erbst (25-5-1) and Kyle Aguon
(13-9) and a 139-pound catchweight affair pitting Kazuma
Kuramoto (6-1) against Taiyo
Nakahara (15-8). The fourth, which will take place at 110
pounds under kickboxing rules, will see a pair of 19-year-old
prospects collide when Nakada Yoshinari takes on Phetmalai
Phetjaroenvit.
M. Asakura last competed at Rizin 25, and he saw an impressive
eight-fight win streak come to an end when Yutaka
Saito captured a decision over the 28-year-old in November.
This was Asakura’s first win inside the Rizin ring, with each of
his past seven appearances either knockouts or unanimous verdicts
in his favor. Yamasu will make his Rizin debut coming off of a
loss, as he dropped a majority decision to Juntaro
Ushiku in September. His own eight-fight win streak came to an
end with that decision loss.
Although Erbst will be making his first professional appearance
under the Rizin banner, the talented grappler showed up at Rizin 25
in November to perform in a grappling demonstration alongside
Roberto de
Souza. A traveler in many international organizations like
KSW, One Championship and Deep, Erbst sports a stellar stoppage rate of 92
percent, with 21 of 25 victories coming by submission. Aguon will
make his second walk to the Rizin ring, first competing at Rizin 21
in February only to lose a decision to Vugar
Karamov. The Guam native has gone the distance in 19 of his 22
career bouts, and he has never been finished as a pro.
Rizin 26 Lineup:
Kai
Asakura vs. Kyoji
Horiguchi – bantamweight title
Hideo
Tokoro vs. Shinobu Ota
– bantamweight
Ayaka
Hamasaki vs. Miyuu
Yamamoto – atomweight title
Kanna
Asakura vs. Ai Shimizu
– atomweight
Yuki
Motoya vs. Naoki Inoue
– bantamweight
Ren
Hiramoto vs. Kyohei
Hagiwara – 150-pound catchweight
Ikuhisa
Minowa vs. Tsuyoshi
Sudario – heavyweight
Yuta
Sasaki vs. Kenta
Takizawa – bantamweight
Mikuru
Asakura vs. Satoshi
Yamasu – 150-pound catchweight
Kleber
Koike Erbst vs. Kyle Aguon –
featherweight
Kazuma
Kuramoto vs. Taiyo
Nakahara – 139-pound catchweight
Nadaka Yoshinara vs. Phetmalai Phetjaroenvit – 110-pound
catchweight kickboxing