With Tenshin Nasukawa making the move to boxing full time in 2022, his final appearance under the RIZIN FF banner has been announced.
Just a day after news of a kickboxing super-fight between Tenshin and K-1 champ Takeru was announced, RIZIN officials revealed that the 23-year old will join RIZIN 33 on New Year’s Eve. He’ll be facing MMA legend Takanori Gomi, a.k.a. “The Fireball Kid,” in a special rules bout — essentially a boxing exhibition.
／
Yogibo presents #RIZIN33🔸
＼📅12.31(金)13:30開始
🏟さいたまスーパーアリーナ▼▼ 放送・PPV ▼▼
📺フジテレビ系列全国放送
大晦日 18:00~🖥️Exciting RIZINhttps://t.co/yYoQdJvyy0
🖥️RIZIN LIVEhttps://t.co/3j77oQ10EY
🖥️U-NEXThttps://t.co/t9WM7t66Sb
📡スカパー！ pic.twitter.com/VAMwu5FInX— RIZIN FF OFFICIAL (@rizin_PR) December 25, 2021
Nasukawa previously competed in a boxing exhibition against Floyd Mayweather Jr. back in 2018. The fight did not go his way, with Tenshin losing via TKO following three knockdowns in the opening round of the exhibition bout.
It was a rare loss (though not official due to the exhibition nature of the bout) for Tenshin, who is a perfect 42-0 as a professional kickboxer, and 4-0 as a mixed martial artist.
Gomi (36-15, 1NC MMA) last competed a year ago at RIZIN 26, also in a custom rules bout, against Koji Tanaka. He won the contest via majority decision. In that match-up, both kicking and grappling were forbidden.
At 43, Gomi is two decades older than Tenshin, and will likely have a significant size advantage as well.
RIZIN 33 will take place on December 31, 2022 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, just outside Tokyo. The event will feature the final rounds of RIZIN’s ongoing bantamweight grand prix.
