By:  | December 16, 2022 6:05 pm

Emi Fujino probably fought she had seen it all during nearly two decades as a professional mixed martial artist. The 42 year old is a veteran of 40 MMA fights and has been in with some of the biggest names in the atomweight and strawweight divisions.

But at Rizin 40 she will be doing something a little bit different. Fujino has been matched with a ring girl who goes by the name Akipi in a submission grappling bout.

The bout will be taking place in the Saitama Super Arena Community Area and is scheduled to start at 10:45am:

Celebrity status

It was one of four bouts announced which will take place under the theme of ‘Rizin vs. entertainer’. The ruleset for the other three matches remains unclear but all of them feature prominent mixed martial artists.

Masakazu Imanari has been matched with someone called El Kabuki. We aren’t sure exactly what he is famous for but with only a few thousand followers and subscribers on YouTube and Twitter he clearly isn’t that famous.

Imanari is one of the most experienced grapplers in the MMA game. He is a BJJ black belt and a veteran of over 60 fights so we hope for El Kabuki’s sake that submissions aren’t allowed.

Meanwhile Kotetsu Hara, who has lost four out of his last five MMA fights, has been matched with someone called Amares Taro who appears to be a wrestler. This match will be contested under the same ruleset as Imanari’s

The final bout to be announced pits another 50 fight veteran, Masanori Kanehara against Yoshinari Fukushima. The latter is a comedian who does appear to be famous in Japan.

Serious business

Later in the day the serious business will begin with a stacked fight card at Saitama Super Arena that has a Bellator vs Rizin theme. Former Bellator and Rizin bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi will be taking on Rizin bantamweight Grand Prix winner Hiromasa Ougikubo.

Reigning Rizin lightweight champion Roberto de Souza faces former Bellator featherweight champion AJ McKee. The latter is coming off a win over Spike Carlyle on his lightweight debut.

Meanwhile Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire takes on newly crowned Rizin featherweight king Kleber Koike. The latter won the belt last Sunday by submitting Juntaro Ushiku at Rizin 39.

Grand Prix final

The card will also feature the final of the super atomweight Grand Prix. Seika Izawa and Si Woo Park will face off for the right to be called the tournament winner.

Meanwhile UFC veteran John Dodson takes on the highly experienced Hideo Tokoro in a flyweight fight. In the lightweight division Johnny Case, who has ben training with Roberto de Souza at Bonsai Jiu Jitsu, takes on Luis Gustavo.

In the bantamweight division Juan Archuleta has been matched with Soo Chul Kim and Naoki Inoue will be fighting for the first time in a year when he returns from injury to take on Kenta Takizawa.

Rizin 40, Tokyo, December 31st
Kyoji Horiguchi vs Hiromasa Ougikubo (Bantamweight)
Juan Archuleta vs. Soo Chul Kim (Bantamweight)
Patricio Freire vs. Kleber Koike (Featherweight)
AJ McKee vs. Roberto Souza (Lightweight)
Koji Takeda vs. Gadzhi Rabadanov (Lightweight)
Tsuyoshi Sudario vs Junior Tafa (Heavyweight)
Yuki Motoya vs. Rogerio Bontorin (Bantamweight)
Naoki Inoue vs Kenta Takizawa (Bantamweight)
John Dodson vs. Hideo Tokoro (Flyweight)
Johnny Case vs. Luis Gustavo (Lightweight)
Noah Bey vs. Sho Usami (Lightweight)