Announced for Bellator Japan on Wednesday, Kanna Asakura (15-4) will face King of the Cage atomweight champ Jayme Hinshaw (4-3). In heavyweight action, Shoma Shibisai (5-2) will face Sergei Shemetov (9-6). And in a bit of a twist, a kickboxing bout set to take place in the cage will see ex-K-1 athlete Ren Hiramoto (10-4 KB) take on a former DEEP champ in Takahiro Ashida (23-1-2 MMA).

All three fights will be featured on the “post-lim” portion of the Bellator Japan card, meaning they will air after the main event, via the Bellator App.

Six fights were also announced for RIZIN 20. Among them, Kai Asakura (14-1) gets his replacement for Kyoji Horiguchi. Horiguchi was forced to give up both his RIZIN and Bellator bantamweight titles due to an ACL injury earlier this year. Now, Asakura will face Manel Kape (14-4) for the vacant RIZIN bantamweight title. The pair have met before, with Asakura picking up the win in a close split decision.

A second title fight will see light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka (25-3-1) take on promotional newcomer and UFC veteran CB Dollaway (17-9). Dollaway was last seen in a loss to Khalid Murtazaliev at UFC Moscow in September 2018.

In non-title action, RIZIN’s Rena Kubota (9-3) will square off against Lindsey Vanzandt (7-2) in a rematch of their Bellator bout, which saw Vanzandt pick up a submission win. A bantamweight number one contender’s bout, meanwhile, will feature Shintaro Ishiwatari (26-7-4) taking on Hiromasa Ogikubo (19-4-2), a TUF veteran. Heavyweight standout and PFL athlete Satoshi Ishii (22-10-1), who was eliminated from the PFL playoffs in October, returns to face Jake Heun (14-9).

Finally, Vitaly Shemetov (23-10) – brother of Sergei, fighting on the Bellator Japan event – will face EFC Light heavyweight Champion Simon Biyong (6-1). Biyong will be making his promotional debut.

Bellator Japan takes place December 29, 2019 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The main card will air live on Paramount Network on December 28 at 10PM ET.

RIZIN 20, meanwhile, will take place at the very same venue on December 31, 2019, and will air live on FITE.tv

The post Bellator Japan and RIZIN 20 Have Multiple New Bouts Announced appeared first on Cageside Press.

RIZIN FF 17: Yachi vs. Asakura, live from the Saitama Super Arena just outside Tokyo, Japan went down Sunday. MMA and kickboxing action were on tap as the promotion returned to action in its home base in Saitama.

In the main event, Yusuke Yachi faced Mikuru Asakura in a lightweight contest. Yachi was on a tear in RIZIN FF 14 months ago, winning his first five bouts in the promotion. However, Yachi had lost back-to-back bouts for the first time since 2011, and looked to rebound in style. Most recently, Yachi suffered a second-round TKO (Doctor Stoppage) loss to Johnny Case due to an eye cut. Asakura on the other hand had won five-straight, most recently defeating Luis Gustavo at RIZIN FF 15. Gustavo was coming off a victory over Asakura’s opponent, Yusuke Yachi prior to the contest. The 27-year-old entered the night 4-0 in RIZIN FF.

In the co-main event, Shintaro Ishiwatari faced Ulka Sasaki at bantamweight. Ishiwatari was the former Pancrase champion but vacated the belt to compete in RIZIN FF. In RIZIN FF, Ishiwatari was 3-1, with his only loss coming to Kyoji Horiguchi back in 2017. Sasaki entered the bout coming off a RIZIN FF debut win over Manel Kape. The 29-year-old is a nine-time UFC veteran, who went 4-5 in the UFC.

Also on the card, Japanese bantamweights Yuki Montoya and Hiromasa collide, and Ivan Shtyrkov is making his RIZIN FF debut. Also, Johnny Case returns to action at RIZIN 17 against Satoru Kitaoka.

RIZIN FF 17: Yachi vs. Asakura Results:

• Mikuru Asakura def. Yusuke Yachi via Unanimous Decision
• Shintaro Ishiwatari def. Ulka Sasaki via Submission, Round 2, 3:57
• Hiromasa Ogikubo def. Yuki Motoya via Split Decision
• Ivan Shtyrkov def. Hoon Kim via TKO (Ground and Pound), Round 2, 4:05
• Taiga def. Hikaru Machida via Unanimous Decision – kickboxing. 
• Johnny Case def. Satoru Kitaoka via TKO (Corner Stoppage), Round 1, 5:00
• Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Ali Abdulkhalikov via Unanimous Decision
• Roberto de Souza def. Mizuto Hirota via TKO (Punches), Round 1, 3:04
• Jake Heun def. Vitaly Shemetov via TKO (Elbow – Referee Stoppage due to a Cut), Round 3, 2:17
• Seo Hee Ham def. Tomo Maesawa via TKO (Knees), Round 1, 3:12
• Stephanie Egger def. King Reina via Unanimous Decision
• Hideki def. Daiki Watabe via Majority Decision  – kickboxing.

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