Two UFC veterans will go head to head at Rizin 30. Ulka Sasaki will take on Yoshinori Horie at the Saitama Super Arena on September 19th.
Sasaki (23-8-2) was last seen in action at Rizin 26 on New Year’s Eve where he beat Kenta Takizawa by decision. He will be fighting at featherweight for the first time since 2012.
Horie (10-3) is coming off a first round TKO win over Tetsuya Seki at Rizin 27. He went 1-1 with Pancrase after being released by the UFC following just one fight.
Also added to the card today was a lightweight bout pitting Koji Takeda against Yusuke Yachi. The former is a top contender at 155lbs while the latter is coming off a big win.
Takeda (12-1) is the Deep lightweight champion and is riding a four fight winning streak that includes wins at Rizin 24 and Rizin 27. Yachi (22-11) is a former Shooto featherweight champion and is coming off a win over Shooto lightweight champion Yuki Kawana at Rizin 29.
There were two other featherweight fights added to the card today. Shoji Maruyama (18-14-1) faces Chihiro Suzuki (5-2) while wrestling star Shinobu Ota (0-1) faces K-1 welterweight champion Yuta Kubo who is making his MMA debut.
As previously announced super atomweight champion Ayaka Hamasaki is set to face promotional newcomer Emi Fujino in a non title fight at Rizin 30. The event is set for Saitama Super Arena on September 19th.
Hamasaki (22-3) won the super atomweight title for the second time at Rizin 26 last year. The belt was left vacant when Seo Hee Ham signed with ONE Championship.
Fujino (25-11-0-1) was last seen in action at Pancrase 311 in 2019. She submitted Hyun Ji Jang late in the third round to become the promotion’s interim strawweight champion but will be dropping down to 108lbs for this fight.
Hamasaki and Fujino fought in 2012 with the former winning by decision. Rizin’s matchmakers have decided to reshuffle the bantamweight tournament quarter finals in order to ensure there are no rematches at this stage of the tournament.
Former bantamweight champion and tournament favourite Kai Asakura (17-3) takes on Alan Yamaniha (18-8), the only non Japanese fighter in the tournament. Takafumi Otsuka (29-18) meets Hiromasa Ougikubo (22-5) in a battle between two veterans.
Meanwhile Yuto Hokamura (14-9) has been matched with Naoki Inoue (16-2) and and Yuki Motoya (28-9-0-1) goes up against Kenta Takizawa (12-7). The semi finals and final will take place at Rizin 31 on New Year’s Eve.
Rizin 30, Tokyo, September 19th
Roberto de Souza (c) vs. TBA (For lightweight title)
Ayaka Hamasaki vs. Emi Fujino (Super atomweight)
Yuki Motoya vs. Kenta Takizawa (Bantamweight Grand Prix 1/4 final)
Hiromasa Ougikubo vs. Takafumi Otsuka (Bantamweight Grand Prix 1/4 final)
Naoki Inoue vs. Yuto Hokamura (Bantamweight Grand Prix 1/4 final)
Kai Asakura vs. Alan Yamaniha (Bantamweight Grand Prix 1/4 final)
Ulka Sasaki vs. Yoshinori Horie (Featherweight)
Koji Takeda vs. Yusuke Yachi (Lightweight)
Panchan Rina vs. Momoka (Catchweight)
Shoji Maruyama vs. Chihiro Suzuki (Featherweight)
Shinobu Ota vs. Yuta Kubo (Featherweight)
