After a couple of shake-ups, the RIZIN 15 card is finalized. The event takes place Sunday, April 21 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan.
The RIZIN 15 card, just days away, has finally been finalized. And two fighters have fallen off the docket. Promotional officials announced earlier this week that former UFC star Justin Scoggins had been removed from the event due to injury. That left opponent Kai Asakura with few options, and as a result, Asakura was removed from the card as well. Additionally, on Wednesday, RIZIN sent notice via press release that Shinju Auclair had suffered an ankle injury, and was also out of the event.
Luckily for opponent Saray Orozco (4-2), Kanako Murata (8-1) has stepped up on short notice. Murata had been expected to fight for Invicta FC in December, but an injury of her own forced her to postpone her debut with the all-female fighting promotion.
Murata has won four straight coming into RIZIN 15, most recently against UFC alum Angela Magana. Her only loss to date was against another UFC veteran, Rin Nakai.
With the dust settled, RIZIN 15 has King Mo Lawal vs. Jiri Prochazka for the RIZIN light heavyweight championship as its main event. Lawal, of course, is on loan from Bellator, with the two promotions continuing to share talent, a relationship that began a couple of years back.
The full RIZIN 15 card plays out as follows:
Muhammed Lawal vs. Jiri Prochazka – for the inaugural RIZIN light heavyweight championship
Tenshin Nasukawa vs. Fritz Aldin Biagtan – kickboxing bout
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ben Nguyen
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Roberto Satoshi Souza
Karl Albrektsson vs. Christiano Frohlich
RENA vs. Samantha Jean-Francois
Mikuru Asakura vs. Luiz Gustavo
Kana Watanabe vs. Justyna Zofia Haba
Damien Brown vs. Koji Takeda
Manel Kape vs. Seiichiro Ito
Saray Orozco vs. Kanako Murata
TAIGA vs. Thallison Ferreira – kickboxing bout
