RIZIN’s annual New Year’s Eve show (that’s RIZIN Decade, for obvious reasons) has started to fill out, with a pair of title fights featuring the promotion’s lightweight and flyweight belts among the latest additions.
At lightweight, Roberto Satoshi Souza is set to defend his title against Vugar Karamov — a former RIZIN featherweight champ moving up in weight in search of a second championship with the promotion. At flyweight, meanwhile, Kyoji Horiguchi looks to defend flyweight gold against EFC champ Nkazimulo Zulu.
Also added to RIZIN Decade, Seika Izawa, the RIZIN Women’s Super Atomweight champion, will take on Lucia Apdelgarim of Argentina, while Koji Takeda meets Suguru Nii at featherweight.
The title fights join a card that already features a featherweight championship bout, with Chihiro Suzuki facing off with Kleber Koike.
Souza (17-3) won lightweight gold in 2021, defeating Tofiq Musayev to becoming RIZIN’s inaugural 155lb champ. He defended his belt twice before taking time off for some non-title bouts, losing to Bellator’s A.J. McKee, picking up a win over UFC/Bellator vet Spike Carlyle, and falling short in Bellator’s lightweight grand prix against Patricky Pitbull.
The Brazilian got back to defending his RIZIN lightweight title in September, defeating Luis Gustavo.
Karamov (18-3) lost his featherweight to Chihiro Suzuki last year, but bounced back opposite Kazumasa Majima.
On the flyweight side, former UFC star and Bellator bantamweight champ Kyoji Horiguchi (33-5, 1NC) looks to make the first defense of his RIZIN flyweight title opposite Nkazimulo Zulu (16-6-1). Horiguchi is coming off a non-title win over ex-Bellator champ and rival Sergio Pettis. The Japanese star is also a former RIZIN bantamweight champ.
The RIZIN 49: Decade card, set for December 31, 2024 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan includes the following match-ups:
- Chihiro Suzuki vs. Kleber Koike — for the RIZIN featherweight championship
- Roberto Satoshi Souza vs. Vuguar Karamov — for the RIZIN lightweight championship
- Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Nkazimulo Zulu — for the RIZIN flyweight championship
- Yuki Motoya vs. Kyoma Akimoto
- Seika Izawa vs. Lucia Apdelgarim
- Koji Takeda vs. Suguru Nii
- Taiga vs. Genji Umeno
- Sanou Yokouchi vs. Kenshin Saito
