Justin Scoggins has pulled out of Rizin 15. The American suffered a knee injury and his bout with Kai Asakura is officially off, with the promotion breaking the bad news on Twitter this afternoon:
Kai Asakura vs Justin Scoggins fight has been canceled due to Justin’s knee injury. We do apologize for those who looked forward to this fight. https://t.co/Ena0dF5NUS
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) April 15, 2019
The show is set for the Yokohama Arena on Sunday. Rizin was unable to find a suitable replacement for Scoggins at such short notice so Asakura will not be on the card, which now consists of 12 fights.
As previously announced Tenshin Nasukawa will return at Rizin 15. After a disastrous foray into the world of exhibition boxing the Japanese fighter is going back to his kickboxing roots to take on Fritz Biagtan.
The rest of the card remains intact. Bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi faces Ben Nguyen in a non title match while Muhammed Lawal challenges Jiří Procházka for the inaugural light heavyweight belt.
Meanwhile Manny Pacquiao will be in attendance at Rizin 15 but he will not be fighting. The Filipino is in talks to become an ambassador or talent scout for the Japanese promotion.
Rizin 15, Yokohama, April 21st
Muhammed Lawal vs. Jiří Procházka (For Inaugural Light Heavyweight Title)
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ben Nguyen (Bantamweight)
Tenshin Nasukawa vs. Fritz Biagtan (59kgs)
Taiga vs. Thalisson Gomes Ferreira (61kgs)
Mikuru Asakura vs. Luiz Gustavo (Lightweight)
Koji Takeda vs. Damien Brown (Lightweight)
Seiichiro Ito vs. Manel Kape (Flyweight)
Rena Kubota vs. Samantha Jean-Francois (Atomweight)
Roberto de Souza vs. Satoru Kitaoka (Lightweight)
Kana Watanabe vs. Justyna Haba (Flyweight)
Shinju Nozawa Auclair vs. Saray Orozco (Flyweight)
Karl Albrektsson vs. Christiano Frohlich (Light Heavyweight)
