RIZIN Fighting Federation has announced the bulk of its RIZIN 12 card in August, including a main event bout betweeen Yusuke Yachi and Bruno Carvalho, plus the first fight in years for Invicta matchmaker Kaitlin Young.
On Wednesday, Japanese MMA leader RIZIN FF announced some key additions to their RIZIN 12 card in August. Among them, a main event featuring Japan’s own Yusuke Yachi taking on Bruno Carvalho, plus an appearance by King Reina. The promotion unveiled the additions to the card in a press conference featuring a number of the fighters expected to appear.
Anchoring the event will be Yusuke Yachi (20-6), who has put together an impressive streak of late. His six straight wins include victories over Daron Cruickshank, Takanori Gomi, and Diego Nunes, all under the RIZIN banner. Now topping a RIZIN event for the first time, Yachi was quoted as saying that “I am very honored to be headlining a RIZIN event. I know what I have to do, and I will promise to deliver.”
Yachi’s foe in the RIZIN 12 main event, Brazil’s Bruno Carvalho (10-5), will be making his RIZIN debut against Yachi. He most recently picked up a victory in his native Brazil against Diego Farnezi under the Juiz de Fora Fight promotion.
In another interesting development, retired women’s MMA pioneer and Invicta FC matchmaker Kaitlin Young steps back into action, taking on King Reina. Calling the pairing “the old wolf taking on the young lion,” Young (7–9–1) will be fighting for the first time since 2014 at Invicta FC 9. She finished her career (to this point) on a three fight slump, and will be looking to bounce back.
Opponent King Reina (a.k.a. Reina Miura) seemed unimpressed by her scheduled opponent. “What is my opponent’s record? I don’t know who she is,” Miura was quoted as saying. Reina (9-1) has won both her fights so far this year in Deep following a split decision loss to Cindy Dandois at RIZIN’s World Grand Prix 2017 show on December 29.
RIZIN 12 takes place August 12 at the Dolphins Arena in Nagoya, Japan.
The RIZIN 12 card currently looks as follows:
Yusuke Yachi vs Bruno Carvalho
Hatsu Hioki vs Mikuru Asakura
Roque Martinez vs Samurai Mark Hunt
Reina Miura vs Kaitlin Young
Strasser Kiichi vs Ryuichiro Sumimura
Yuki Motoya vs TBD
Kanako Murata vs TBD
