By:  | June 1, 2022 6:01 pm

In a month that has seen a major scandal erupt at Rizin the promotion is back to the business of putting on fights. Kai Asakura is set to take on Ji Yong Yang at Okinawa Arena on July 2nd.

Yesterday Rizin called an emergency press conference to address new allegations surrounding Nobuyuki Sakakibara’s relationship with the yakuza. Fuji TV decided not to broadcast the upcoming fight between Tenshin Nasukawa and Takeru after a newspaper article was published containing allegations about the link between the Japanese promotion and organized crime.

Today the promotion revealed the first 13 fights for Rizin 36. The headliner looks set to be a bantamweight bout between Kai Asakura and Ji Yong Yang.

Asakura (19-4) is a Rizin veteran who recently spent time training in Las Vegas. Yang (4-0) is undefeated but will be fighting outside of Korea for the first time in his career.

Kickboxers collide

The co-main event features two kickboxers competing in MMA.  Ren Hiramoto (0-2) had a lot of hype behind him when he decided to switch codes after a successful K-1 career.

But things have not gone according to plan for the former K-1 lightweight title challenger who is winless in his two fights so far. He hoped to conquer the featherweight division but dropped a decision to Chihiro Suzuki in his most recent outing.

He is set to take on Hiroaki Suzuki (2-1) a Shoot Boxing and Muay Thai veteran who has been in with the likes of Nong-O Gaiyanghadao and Tukkatatong Petpayathai. He has had more success in MMA than his opponent winning two Rizin fights out of three.

Best of the rest

Miyuu Yamamoto (6-6) has been matched with Saori Oshima (8-3) in a super atomweight bout between two top contenders. The latter beat Kanna Asakura at Rizin 31 last year.

Rizin has not held many strawweight fights in the past but a catchweight contest set for 119lbs is on the card. ONE Championship veteran Mitsuhisa Sunabe (29-10-4) has been matched with Nobuyoshi Nakatsuka (7-4)

Rizin 36, Okinawa, July 2nd
Kai Asakura vs. Ji Yong Yang (Bantamweight)
Hiroaki Suzuki vs. Ren Hiramoto (Featherweight)
Miyuu Yamamoto vs. Saori Oshima (Super atomweight)
Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs. Nobuyoshi Nakatsuka (Catchweight)
Kohei Tokeshi vs. Atsushi Kishimoto (Lightweight)
Yuki Ito vs. Yuichi Miyagi (Flyweight)
Yamato Fujita vs. Tatsuya So (Flyweight)
Yutaro Muramoto vs. Shinichi Kojima (Flyweight)
Mizuki Oshiro vs. Moeri Suda (Super atomweight)
Kickboxing: Taiga Kawabe vs. Soichiro Arata (Bantamweight)
Kyle Aguon vs. Sora Yamamoto (Featherweight)
Kickboxing: Hirokatsu Miyagi vs. Tomoki Yoshino (Catchweight)
Tanner Lourenco vs. Orihey (Lightweight)