Juan Archuleta’s fight with Kai Asakura might still go ahead but it has been rendered essentially meaningless after the American missed weight. Not only has he been stripped of his title but he will not be able to win, the bout will either be ruled a victory for his opponent or a no contest.
These are the Rizin rules and the same thing happened to former featherweight champion Koike Kleber. He submitted Chihiro Suzuki in the opening round at Rizin 43 but it was ruled a no contest because he had missed weight.
It is not clear whether Asakura will agree to fight him but Archuleta, who came in over 5lbs overweight, was very apologetic,
“Sorry this happened nothing I can do about getting sick. I did my best to make weight and still step on the scale knowing, I was going to have my title taken away. But I don’t want my fans who pay hard working money to miss this fight. So I did my best and came up short.”
Sorry this happened nothing I can do about getting sick. ☹️ I did my best to make weight and still step on the scale knowing, I was going to have my title taken away. But I don’t want my fans who pay hard working money to miss this fight. So I did my best and came up short 😞.
— Juan Archuleta (@jarchmma) December 30, 2023
Title fight
There was better news for fans hoping to see a title fight tomorrow night when the main event fighters weighed in. Kyoji Horiguchi came in at 125lbs while Makoto Takahashi tipped the scales at 125.6lbs meaning that their match for the inaugural flyweight title is on.
Koike might have missed weight in the past. But he was bang on the money ahead of his featherweight title fight with Yutaka Saio, coming in at 145.2lbs while his opponent was 145.1lbs.
Tomorrow night will be Miyuu Yamamoto’s final fight. She face reigning super atomweight champion Seika Izawa and came in at 107.6lbs while her opponent was 107.2lbs.
Rizin 45 weigh in results
Kyoji Horiguchi (125) vs. Makoto Takahashi (125.6)
Juan Archuleta (140.6) vs. Kai Asakura (134.2)
Kleber Koike (145.2) vs. Yutaka Saito (145.1)
Ren Hiramoto (145.3) vs. Ya-Man (145.1)
Seika Izawa (107.2) vs. Miyuu Yamamoto (107.6)
Tsuyoshi Sudario (262.1) vs. Mikio Ueda (243.6)
Hiromasa Ougikubo (125.4) vs. John Dodson (125.5)
Yuki Motoya (134.4) vs. Vince Morales (133.9)
Shinobu Ota (134.4) vs. Ryusei Ashizawa (134.4)
Kota Miura (143) vs. Kouzi (143.1)
Igor Tanabe (169.5) vs. Shinsho Anzai (169.5)
Jo Arai (125.3) vs. Hiroya (124.8)
Yuta Kubo (153.8) vs. Rukiya Anpo (153.9)
Satoshi Yamasu (144.9) vs. Suguru Nii (145.1)
Kickboxing: Tatsuki Shinotsuka (132.1) vs. Daichi Tomizawa (131.8)
Ryujin Nasukawa (118.7) vs. Jongmin Shin (118.6)
Yushi (133.6) vs. Joe Hiramoto (133.8)
