RIZIN.45 Notice of Card Announcement

RIZIN.45 will be held on December 31st at the Saitama Super Arena.

Bantamweight Title Match Juan Archuleta vs. Kai Asakura (61kg - RIZIN MMA rules [5min × 3R])

Juan Archuleta

He started wrestling from a young age and was an NJCAA All-American in college, and was active in NCAA Division 1 at the university he transferred to. He won by decision at BAMMA USA: BADBEAT 10 in August 2013, his professional MMA debut. He went on to win four straight, and with that momentum, he challenged Andres Pons at WSOF in March 2015, but lost by submission. However, he continued to win consecutive matches after that, and in June 2016, he signed to KOTC and won the flyweight title. In 2017, he won the lightweight, bantamweight, and junior welterweight titles one after another, achieving the remarkable feat of conquering all four weight classes at KOTC. He won his bantamweight title defense against Mark Dickman in December 2017, and in his first Bellator appearance in March 2018, he won a decision over William Joplin. He went on to secure wins over Robbie Peralta, Jeremy Spoon, Ricky Bandejas, and Eduardo Dantas, winning 5 straight fights in Bellator. However, at the Bellator Featherweight World Championship in September 2019, he challenged champion Patricio Pitbull in the Bellator World Featherweight Title Match, which was held as the first round of the GP, but lost by decision. In September 2020, he achieved a come-from-behind victory in the bantamweight championship match against Patrick Mix and was crowned champion. He defended his title against Sergio Pettis in May 2021, but lost by decision and lost his title. In the first round of the Bantamweight World GP held in April 2022, he faced Raufeon Stotts in the Bellator World Bantamweight interim title deciding match, but was defeated in the first round of the GP. In October, he won a decision over former UFC fighter Enrique Barzola, marking his return to action with a victory. In RIZIN's first competition on New Year's Eve 2022, he defeated Kim Soo-Chul, signaling a complete comeback. In his second RIZIN match against Naoki Inoue in May of this year, he showed off his strength and won a decision. In July's Super RIZIN, It had been decided that he would compete, but Kai Asakura’s absence due to injury caused him to face GP champion Hiromasa Ougikubo. He won a unanimous decision and became the champion. He wants to show Kai Asakura the strength of a champion in this event and make his first defense.

Kai Asakura

He went undefeated as THE OUTSIDER champion in the 55-60kg category. He also fought in South Korea's ROAD FC. In his RIZIN debut on New Year's Eve 2017, he defeated Kizaemon Saiga by TKO, followed by wins over Manel Kape and avenged his sole loss to that point against Jae-hoon Moon, and in August 2019, defeated bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi in just 68 seconds. In the following October tournament, he faced Ulka Sasaki and defeated him by breaking his jaw with a powerful punch in the first round. His match for the bantamweight title against Kyoji Horiguchi was scheduled for that New Year's Eve, but Horiguchi gave up the belt due to injury. He challenged Manel Kape to a rematch to determine the title, but he lost by TKO. In his restart in August 2020, he competed against Hiromasa Ogikubo for the title that had become vacant due to Manel's transfer to the UFC. At the end of the 1st round, he landed a flying right uppercut and a knee that sent Ougikubo to the mat and successfully regained the belt. In his second consecutive event in September, he competed against veteran Shoji in a non-title match, and in the 1st round he won by soccer kick. In his rematch with Kyoji Horiguchi on New Year's Eve, he lost by TKO in the 1st round, and was unable to make his first defense. In the first round of the bantamweight GP held at Tokyo Dome in June 2021, he delivered strong ground and pound against Shooto Watanabe and won by TKO. In the next round against Alan ‘Hiro’ Yamaniha, even though he was injured, he won a unanimous decision. In the semi-finals, he defeated Kenta Takizawa. Although he advanced to the finals, he was unable to win a rematch with Hiromasa Ougikubo and finished as runner-up. After that, he was sidelined for a long time due to injury treatment, but in May of this year, about 1 year and 5 months later, he won a TKO victory over Yuki Motoya with a knee to the body. He was scheduled to face Juan Archuleta - who defeated Naoki Inoue in the co-main of the same event - in July, but he withdrew due to injury. He wants to challenge the champion Archuleta in this event, regain the belt, and make a complete comeback.

Flyweight Title Match Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Makoto Shinryu (57kg - RIZIN MMA rules [5min × 3R])

Kyoji Horiguchi

With traditional karate as his backbone, he has a track record of MMA in Shooto. After making his UFC debut in 2013, he won four straight fights and rose to the top of the rankings. However, in March 2017, RIZIN announced his surprise participation. In his first fight in April, he won an overwhelming victory over Yuki Motoya, and in the bantamweight GP of the same year, he knocked out Hideo Tokoro and Gabriel Oliveira. In the semi-finals on New Year's Eve, he tapped from Manel Kape with a head and arm choke, and in the final he had a rematch with Shintaro Ishiwatari for the first time in four and a half years. He crushed Ishiwatari and achieved a complete victory with all matches by KO and one submission. After that, he defeated Ian McCall and Hiromasa Ogikubo, and in September 2018, he had the ``fight of the century'' against Tenshin Nasukawa under kickboxing rules. On New Year's Eve, he faced Bellator's bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell in the RIZIN bantamweight title match, and scored a guillotine choke in the third round to become the inaugural champion. In April 2019, he defeated former UFC ranker Ben Nguyen, and in June, he had a rematch with Caldwell at MSG in New York for the Bellator world bantamweight belt, winning a 3-0 decision, achieving the feat of becoming the first fighter in history to win two promotional titles at the same time. However, in the August 2019 tournament, he faced Kai Asakura and unexpectedly suffered his first KO loss. After that, he returned the RIZIN and Bellator belts due to a long absence due to injury. In his return match on New Year's Eve 2020, he had a rematch with Kai Asakura and won by TKO in the 1st round, successfully regaining the title. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, he has not been able to have many matches, so he moved to Bellator. In December 2021, he faced Sergio Pettis in a title match, leading until the third round, but lost by KO in the fourth round. In April 2022, when he made a comeback in the first round of the Bellator Bantamweight GP, he lost by decision to Patrick Mix, who had a different physique, and it was his first two consecutive losses. In September, he returned to the RIZIN ring for the first time in 1 year and 9 months and showed his strength against Kintaro and won. On New Year's Eve, he represented the Bellator flyweight division and defeated Hiromasa Ougikubo once again, making a complete comeback. At Super RIZIN.2 in July of this year, he faced the rising Makoto Shinryu for the Bellator flyweight title, but an accidental eye poke quickly resulted in a no-contest. In this event, he will once again face Shinryu for the RIZIN flyweight belt and prove that he is the "strongest “made in JAPAN in history."

Makoto Shinryu

With a backbone of amateur wrestling, he made his professional debut against Shinichi Maeno at PANCRASE in April 2016, winning by decision. From August of the same year, he mainly fought DEEP, and in December 2017, he won a complete victory over Shiian in a competition against PANCRASE held in Osaka. In April 2018, he challenged Tatsumitsu Wada for the DEEP flyweight belt at the age of 17, but lost by decision and was never crowned. He defeated Haruki Nakayama in DEEP in October, which was his comeback match, then defeated Chikara Shimabukuro by decision in March 2019, and in June he achieved a complete victory in the DEEP interim flyweight championship match against Yuya "MONKEY" Shibata. He became the youngest champion in DEEP history at the age of 18. At BELLATOR JAPAN in December 2019, he faced veteran Yusaku Nakamura and won a 3-0 decision, showing off the strength of the DEEP champion. At RIZIN in August 2020, he fought Seiichiro Ito and won by guillotine choke in the 2nd round, and in October 2021 at DEEP he won a unanimous decision over former Shooto champion Tatsuya Fukuda. In the DEEP flyweight championship unification match in May 2022, he faced interim champion Yamato Fujita, and in the third round he won by ninja choke, successfully unifying the title and making his first defense. In July 2022, which was his first RIZIN participation in about two years, he faced veteran Hideo Tokoro and won by decision. In the CFFC Flyweight Championship held in the United States in November, he faced Diego Paiva, won by submission with a ninja choke in the 4th round, and succeeded in winning the title. He was the first Japanese fighter to be selected as Submission of the Year. In April of this year, he completely defeated the former King of Pancrase, Daichi Kitakata - his 10th consecutive win. He challenged Kyoji Horiguchi, who he had wanted to fight for the Bellator flyweight belt at Super RIZIN.2 in July of this year, but the contest ended in a no-contest due to an injury caused by an eye poke. This will be a rematch, with the aim of completely settling the issue and creating a generational change.

Kleber Koike vs. Yutaka Saito (66kg - RIZIN MMA rules [5min × 3R])

Kleber Koike

Former KSW featherweight champion, former REBEL FC featherweight champion. He came to Japan at the age of 14 and began practicing Jiu-Jitsu, honing his skills in Bonsai Jiu-Jitsu with the Souza brothers, and made his MMA debut at Club DEEP Hamamatsu in September 2008. Since November 2010, he has won 11 consecutive matches on stages such as DEEP, HEAT, and REAL. Continuing with this momentum, he entered the Polish organization KSW in February 2015, where he won a submission victory over Anzor Azhiev via triangle choke. In June 2015, he competed in REBEL FC's Featherweight GP, defeating Takahiro Ashida and Miguel Torres in a single night to become the champion. In May 2017, he defeated Marcin Wrzosek in a decision for the KSW featherweight title and became the champion. In December, he won against Artur Sowiński with a rear-naked choke, and in June 2018, he won by submission with a rear-naked choke. Won by armbar against Marian Ziółkowski at KSW44. At Road to ONE in September 2019, which was his first match in Japan in a while, he once again proved his strength by defeating Akiyo Nishiura "Wicky" by submission with a brabo choke in the 1st round. On New Year's Eve 2020, his first appearance at RIZIN, he competed against Kyle Agwon, scoring another brabo choke in the 1st round, and in his second bout in March 2021, he masterfully scored a triangle choke against Kazumasa Majima. At the Tokyo Dome event in June 2021, he faced Mikuru Asakura, and he pulled him into the 2nd round and put Mikuru unconscious with a triangle choke. At TRIGGER in February 2022, he won a close battle with former UFC fighter Ulka Sasaki by RNC, and then at LANDMARK in May, he choked out Kyohei Hagiwara. In October, he challenged the champion, Juntaro Ushiku, in a long-awaited title match, and in the 2nd round he defeated the champion with his favorite triangle choke, becoming the third RIZIN Featherweight Champion. On New Year's Eve, he faced Patricio Pitbull in a rivalry match with Bellator, but suffered a narrow loss. In his first title defense in June, he was stripped of the title due to being overweight, but in the first round of the match, he won by an armbar against Chihiro Suzuki (result was a no-contest). In the September event, which was his return bout, he faced the long-time veteran, Masanori Kanehara, but lost by decision, resulting in his second consecutive loss. He hopes to make a comeback and roar with victory in this showdown between former champions.

Yutaka Saito

At the age of 15, he watched K-1 and aspired to become a martial artist, learned traditional karate in high school, and began martial arts at Paraestra Fukushima after entering university. He participated in the All Japan Amateur Shooto Championship held in 2010 and achieved 3rd place, and then made his professional debut at the Shooto Aomori Tournament in November 2011. In 2014, he participated in the Infinity League 2014 and won the championship with a record of 3 wins and 1 draw. In 2015, he won the 7th Pacific Rim belt, and in 2016 he won the 10th featherweight belt, becoming the representative fighter for the Shooto featherweight division. In addition, he scored a decision victory over Caol Uno in 2017, Takeshi Rion in 2018, and a KO victory over Hiroyuki Takaya in 2019. At RIZIN.23 in August 2020, his first appearance at RIZIN, he faced Kazumasa Majima, scoring a stunning TKO victory with grounded knees and soccer kicks. In November, he fought his second RIZIN featherweight title match against Mikuru Asakura, who was on a seven-fight winning streak in RIZIN, and won by unanimous decision to become the first RIZIN featherweight champion. At the Tokyo Dome event in June 2021, which was his first appearance in six months, it was decided that he would face Vugar Karamov, who had won 11 straight games, and won a tough 3-round battle by decision. At the Yokohama event in October, he made his first defense against the DEEP champion, Juntaro Ushiku, but he was hit with a knee to the face at the end of the second round, and was unfortunately stopped by a doctor, so he was unable to defend his title. On New Year's Eve, he had a rematch with Mikuru Asakura, losing by decision - his second loss in a row. In the title match against Ushiku again in April 2022, he lost by decision. At LANDMARK in April of this year, which was his first participation in a year, he showed off his difference in experience against Ren Hiramoto and won his comeback bout. In this event, which will be his first in about 8 months, he aims to win consecutive victories by defeating Kleber, the demon of the Jiu-Jitsu world.

Hiromasa Ougikubo vs. John Dodson (57kg - RIZIN MMA rules [5min × 3R])

Hiromasa Ougikubo

He started wrestling from a young age and was an NJCAA All-American in college, and was active in NCAA Division 1 at the university he transferred to. He won by decision at BAMMA USA: BADBEAT 10 in August 2013, his professional MMA debut. He went on to win four straight, and with that momentum, he challenged Andres Pons at WSOF in March 2015, but lost by submission. However, he continued to win consecutive matches after that, and in June 2016, he signed to KOTC and won the flyweight title. In 2017, he won the lightweight, bantamweight, and junior welterweight titles one after another, achieving the remarkable feat of conquering all four weight classes at KOTC. He won his bantamweight title defense against Mark Dickman in December 2017, and in his first Bellator appearance in March 2018, he won a decision over William Joplin. He went on to secure wins over Robbie Peralta, Jeremy Spoon, Ricky Bandejas, and Eduardo Dantas, winning 5 straight fights in Bellator. However, at the Bellator Featherweight World Championship in September 2019, he challenged champion Patricio Pitbull in the Bellator World Featherweight Title Match, which was held as the first round of the GP, but lost by decision. In September 2020, he achieved a come-from-behind victory in the bantamweight championship match against Patrick Mix and was crowned champion. He defended his title against Sergio Pettis in May 2021, but lost by decision and lost his title. In the first round of the Bantamweight World GP held in April 2022, he faced Raufeon Stotts in the Bellator World Bantamweight interim title deciding match, but was defeated in the first round of the GP. In October, he won a decision over former UFC fighter Enrique Barzola, marking his return to action with a victory. In RIZIN's first competition on New Year's Eve 2022, he defeated Kim Soo-Chul, signaling a complete comeback. In his second RIZIN match against Naoki Inoue in May of this year, he showed off his strength and won a decision. In July's Super RIZIN, It had been decided that he would compete, but Kai Asakura’s absence due to injury caused him to face GP champion Hiromasa Ougikubo. He won a unanimous decision and became the champion. He wants to show Kai Asakura the strength of a champion in this event and make his first defense.

John Dodson

Was a two-time state champion in wrestling while in high school. After graduating from high school, he began his MMA training under Greg Jackson while attending college. He made his professional debut against Zach White at DESERT EXTREME in Mexico in September 2004, winning by rear naked choke in the first round, and his second match was at DEMOLITION in Japan in November of the same year. He faced Yasuhiro Urushitani, but suffered his first loss by decision. After that, he gained experience in a number of organizations and participated in the reality show "The Ultimate Fighter Season 14" in June 2011. He advanced to the finals by defeating Brandon Merkt, John Albert, and Johnny Bedford before facing TJ Dillashaw in the finals of the TUF bantamweight tournament in December 2011. He won the tournament by TKO with his specialty left hook and follow-up ground and pound from the knockdown, winning the tournament title and winning the Knockout of the Night award in that fight, and was expected to perform well in the UFC. He made his UFC debut in May 2012 at UFC on FOX 3, where he faced Tim Elliott and won a 3-0 decision. In October, he defeated Jussier Formiga by TKO for his second straight victory. In January 2013, he challenged the world flyweight champion Demetrius Johnson, and although he knocked him down in the first half of the match, he lost by decision and was unable to win the title. However, he won again and was granted a rematch with Demetrius in September 2015, but he was unable to break his stronghold. After that, he competed against many strong fighters, and left the UFC after fighting Merab Dvalishvili in August 2020. In August 2022, he participated in BKFC, which are bare handed boxing matches, and won all three matches. On New Year's Eve, his first appearance in RIZIN, he used his physical ability to defeat veteran Hideo Tokoro, and in his second event, the Ariake tournament in May, he overwhelmingly defeated Saomoto. In third fight, he hopes to defeat Hiromasa Ougikubo and earn a title shot.

Follow RIZIN FF

Website - http://www.rizinff.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rizinfightingfederation/
Twitter - @rizin_English
Twitter - @rizin_pr
Instagram – rizin_pr
TikTok – rizinffofficial

English News

RIZIN.45 International Tickets & PPV - RIZIN FIGHTING FEDERATION オフィシャルサイト

Ticket Price
Coming Soon
International PPV
Coming Soon
EVENT INFO
EVENT
RIZIN.45
Date
December 31st, 2023 (Sun)
Venue
Saitama Super Arena
≫ Acces（Google Maps）
!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d3232.1198203360614!2d139.62854321526464!3d35.89508098014502!2m3!1f0!2f0...

jp.rizinff.com

English - RIZIN FIGHTING FEDERATION

This page contains English content only such as interviews and press conferences

jp.rizinff.com