Japanese promotion Gladiator returns next month with a card that will feature three title fights. In the main event well travelled UFC veteran Shunichi Shimizu challenges Takeya Takemoto for his bantamweight belt.
Takemoto (11-6-1) is riding a three fight winning streak. He won the belt by beating Shuichi Kanda at Gladiator 12 last February.
Shimizu (34-23-11) also tasted victory at Gladiator 12. He is coming off back to back wins and has been in with the likes of Mark Striegl, Soo Chul Kim, Yosuke Saruta, Kyung Ho Kang and Motonobu Tezuka.
Also defending his title for the first time will be featherweight champion Munehiro Fujita (9-9-2) who faces Akira Haraguchi (4-2). The champion will be returning after an absence of nearly three years.
The interim lightweight title will be on the line when Yutaka Ueda (12-7-1) faces Shinji Sasaki (18-12-3). The latter has been on the sidelines since 2018 while the former got three fights in last year, winning two of them.
Gladiator 13, Osaka, February 7th
Takeya Takemoto (c) vs. Shunichi Shimizu (For bantamweight title)
Munehiro Fujita (c) vs. Akira Haraguchi (For featherweight title)
Yutaka Ueda vs. Shinji Sasaki (For interim lightweight title)
Masayuki Watanabe vs. Kengo Fujita
Takeshi Kunito vs. Taiki Hamasaki (Featherweight)
Yuki Uejima vs. Yuto Aragaki (Bantamweight)
Takuho Ishida vs. Kazuhito Suzuki (Welterweight)
Kazumasa Tsubouchi vs. Arata Ueki (Flyweight)
Sora Enmei vs. Yuki Ueda (Featherweight)
Icho Tomonaga vs. Ureta Chestel (Flyweight)
Nakatsuka Nobuyoshi vs. Masashi Kimura (Flyweight)
