#RIZIN_TRIGGER at the Kobe World Memorial Hall. Surging
Featherweight contenders Shoji Maruyama and Kyohei Hagiwara
headline the first event of the TRIGGER series.
#RIZIN_TRIGGER 1st
2021.11.28[sun]Kobe World Memorial Hall#RIZIN
#MMAhttps://t.co/CCKpBqOiSz— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English)
November 5, 2021
A new era in Rizin Fighting Federation history is set to
begin later this month.
Per a press release from the promotion on Thursday, Rizin is
officially putting on its Trigger
1st show on Nov. 28 at the Kobe World Memorial Hall in Kobe,
Japan. The event will be unlike any other that the organization has
put on, because the fights will be contested inside a cage and not
a ring. This fight card is the first of its “Trigger” series, in
which Rizin will make its transition to Cagefighting. The “Trigger”
series will incorporate both MMA and kickboxing matches in a
cage.
“There are many fighters who are looking to compete overseas, where
the cage is more common,” Rizin head Nobuyuki Sakakibara said in
the release. “We would like to provide opportunities to Rizin
fighters to be able to compete in both platforms to prepare
themselves for higher competition. Our original cage is currently
being built, and hopefully it’s done on time.”
The event will be headlined by a featherweight matchup pitting
Shoji
Maruyama (17-14-1) against Kyohei
Hagiwara (4-4). The bout will be Maruyama’s third with the
organization, as the ex-Deep title challenger moved over to Rizin to face
Kai
Asakura in September 2020. While he came up short in that one,
his second Rizin fight against Chihiro
Suzuki went his way as he scored a knockout in 20 seconds. His
opponent Hagiwara has competed under the Rizin banner one month
longer than Maruyama, but he has appeared five times. A two-fight
win streak ended in October when Mikuru
Asakura captured a decision over him at the inaugural
“Landmark” series event.
The co-main event draws a bantamweight battle between Hiroki
Yamashita (8-9) and Mamoru Uoi
(23-10-4), with the former a member of the bantamweight grand prix
that was eliminated in June. Both men have struggled of late, with
just two wins in their combined eight appearances dating back the
last few years.
Rizin Trigger 1st Card Lineup
Shoji
Maruyama vs. Kyohei
Hagiwara – featherweight
Hiroki
Yamashita vs. Mamoru Uoi –
bantamweight
Tatsuki
Saomoto vs. Takashi
Matsuba – flyweight
Chihiro
Suzuki vs. Sora
Yamamoto – featherweight
Kiichi
Kunimoto vs. Takahiro
Kawanaka – welterweight
Ryuichiro
Sumimura vs. Yusaku
Kinoshita – welterweight
Makoto
Kamaya vs. Daiki
Tsubota – bantamweight
Keisuke
Okuda vs. Grant
Bogdanove – 161-pound catchweight
Kenji
Kato vs. Katsuya
Fujiwara – bantamweight
Hiroto Ichimura vs. Tepparith – bantamweight kickboxing
Tsubasa Morii vs. Fujimon – 120-pound catchweight kickboxing
Jin Mandokoro vs. Yu Hiramatsu – 117-pound catchweight
kickboxing
Momoko Mandokoro vs. Miku – 101-pound catchweight kickboxing