RIZIN FF revealed the name of Tenshin Nasukawa’s opponent for RIZIN 16 on Wednesday, as well as an additional kickboxing match.
Tenshin Nasukawa was previously announced as making a quick turnaround for RIZIN 16. Having competed just last month at RIZIN 15 in Yokohama, the kickboxing and MMA prodigy was revealed to be competing in kickboxing for the ISKA featherweight title a week ago. Now, he has an opponent named. In a press release Wednesday, RIZIN officials noted that Nasukawa would fight France’s Ahmed Ferradji.
A second kickboxing bout was also unveiled, at 63kg between Nasukawa’s own teammate Daiju Shiratori and Hiroto Yamaguchi.
Ferradji captured the ISKA featherweight championship with a TKO victory over Yacin Moutacim last May. Tenshin Nasukawa, meanwhile, holds a bantamweight title with RIZIN. He remains undefeated in his professional career in both kickboxing and MMA.
“I would like to define my fight style for this fight so please look for the differences in the fight,” Nasukawa said in Wednesday’s press release. “I will be dominate the fight and will deliver the most entertaining fight on the entire card.”
Ferradji, meanwhile, said only that “I am honored to defend my belt in Japan against Tenshin Nasukawa. I can’t wait to perform in such a great stage as RIZIN.”
The championship bout is to be contested under the ABC Unified Rules of Kickboxing.
The RIZIN 16 card to date looks as follows:
RIZIN Super Atomweight championship
Ayaka Hamasaki vs Jinh Yu Frey
ISKA Featherweight World Championship
Ahmed Ferradji vs Tenshin Nasukawa
Kanna Asakura vs Miyuu Yamamoto
Erson Yamamoto vs Tim Eschtruth
Roque Martinez ca Jake Heun
ITTO vs Kan Nakamura
Kunitaka vs Kizaemon Saiga
Hiroto Yamaguchi vs Taiju Shiratori
