One of the biggest names on the Rizin roster will be in action on December 31st. Tenshin Nasukawa will face Rui Ebata in a kickboxing contest at the Saitama Super Arena.
At Rizin 14 last New Year’s Eve Tenshin faced Floyd Mayweather in a boxing bout. That didn’t end well for the Japanese prodigy but it is the only time in recent memory he has lost a fight.
Ebata won a super bantamweight tournament with Knockout in August. The 28 year old is riding an undefeated streak that stretches all the way back to 2016 but will be moving up a few lbs for this flyweight fight.
Also added to the Rizin 20 card today was a bantamweight kickboxing bout pitting Taiju Shiratori against Taiga. In total there will be three title bouts at the Saitama Super Arena.
Kai Asakura rematches Manel Kape in a fight that will have the bantamweight belt recently vacated by Kyoji Horiguchi on the line.
Jiri Prochazka defends his light heavyweight strap against promotional newcomer C.B. Dolloway. The other title bout on the card sees Ayaka Hamasaki defending her super atomweight strap against Seo Hee Ham.
Meanwhile Patricky Freire faces Luiz Gustavo and Johnny Case takes on Tofiq Musaev in the semi finals of the Rizin Lightweight Grand Prix, which will conclude on the same night.
Rizin 20, Tokyo, December 31st
Kai Asakura vs. Manel Kape (For Vacant Bantamweight Title)
Ayaka Hamasaki (c) vs. Seo Hee Ham (For Super Atomweight Title)
Jiri Prochazka (c) vs. C.B. Dolloway (For Light Heavyweight Title)
Patricky Freire vs. Luiz Gustavo (Lightweight Grand Prix Semi Final)
Johnny Case vs. Tofiq Musaev (Lightweight Grand Prix Semi Final)
Kickboxing: Tenshin Nasukawa vs. Rui Ebata (Flyweight)
Kickboxing: Taiju Shiratori vs. Taiga (Bantamweight)
Vitaly Shemetov vs. Simon Biyong (Light Heavyweight)
Soma Shibisai vs. Sergey Shemetov (Heavyweight)
Jake Heun vs. Satoshi Ishii (Catchweight)
Patrick Mix vs. Yuki Motoya (Bantamweight)
John Macapa vs. Mikuru Asakura (Featherweight)
Rena Kubota vs. Lindsey VanZandt (Catchweight)
Shintaro Shiwatari vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo (Bantamweight)
