On Wednesday, Japanese MMA leader RIZIN FF announced some key additions to their RIZIN 12 card in August. Among them, a main event featuring Japan’s own Yusuke Yachi taking on Bruno Carvalho, plus an appearance by King Reina. The promotion unveiled the additions to the card in a press conference featuring a number of the fighters expected to appear.

Anchoring the event will be Yusuke Yachi (20-6), who has put together an impressive streak of late. His six straight wins include victories over Daron Cruickshank, Takanori Gomi, and Diego Nunes, all under the RIZIN banner. Now topping a RIZIN event for the first time, Yachi was quoted as saying that “I am very honored to be headlining a RIZIN event. I know what I have to do, and I will promise to deliver.”

Yachi’s foe in the RIZIN 12 main event, Brazil’s Bruno Carvalho (10-5), will be making his RIZIN debut against Yachi. He most recently picked up a victory in his native Brazil against Diego Farnezi under the Juiz de Fora Fight promotion.

In another interesting development, retired women’s MMA pioneer and Invicta FC matchmaker Kaitlin Young steps back into action, taking on King Reina. Calling the pairing “the old wolf taking on the young lion,” Young (7–9–1) will be fighting for the first time since 2014 at Invicta FC 9. She finished her career (to this point) on a three fight slump, and will be looking to bounce back.

Opponent King Reina (a.k.a. Reina Miura) seemed unimpressed by her scheduled opponent. “What is my opponent’s record? I don’t know who she is,” Miura was quoted as saying. Reina (9-1) has won both her fights so far this year in Deep following a split decision loss to Cindy Dandois at RIZIN’s World Grand Prix 2017 show on December 29.

RIZIN 12 takes place August 12 at the Dolphins Arena in Nagoya, Japan.

The RIZIN 12 card currently looks as follows:

Yusuke Yachi vs Bruno Carvalho
Hatsu Hioki vs Mikuru Asakura
Roque Martinez vs Samurai Mark Hunt
Reina Miura vs Kaitlin Young
Strasser Kiichi vs Ryuichiro Sumimura
Yuki Motoya vs TBD
Kanako Murata vs TBD

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On December 29, live from the Saitama Super Arena, RIZIN hosted the second round of it’s RIZIN World Grand Prix 2017. Featuring a host of popular fighters including Kyoji Horiguchi and ‘Uncle Creepy’ Ian McCall in the bantamweight grand prix, plus King Reina taking on Cindy Dandois, the first of two year-end RIZIN FF cards more than delivered.

In the main event, Kyoji Horiguchi proved why he was the favorite to win the bantamweight tournament. Dispatching Gabriel Oliviera via TKO, Horiguchi looked as good as ever. Reminiscent, in fact, of the fighter who earned himself a crack at Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson in the UFC.

Bad luck, however, continued to haunt Ian McCall. After a host of health issues, both his own and his opponent’s, kept him out of no less than four UFC fights in recent years, McCall returned to action for the first time since 2015. However, a freak cut by the ring ropes saw his night early. The resulting win for opponent Manel Kape (a doctor’s stoppage TKO) just added insult to injury.

In another upset on the night, Cindy Dandois earned herself a split decision over the popular King Reina. Dandois is one of the unheralded stars of the women’s side of MMA, with wins over Marloes Coenen and Megan Anderson among others.

Check out the gallery below to see some of the night’s action, courtesy of RIZIN FF! Don’t miss the final round, which goes down early Sunday morning — December 31, 1AM EST.

The post RIZIN World Grand Prix 2017 2nd Round Gallery appeared first on Cageside Press.

At Friday’s RIZIN press conference, RIZIN FF executive Chairman Nobuyuki Sakakibara and General Manager Nobuhiko Takada were on hand to announce a pair of key bouts for its December cards. Along with further details on the return of Mirko Cro-Cop, it was announced that KING Reina (Reina Miura) would meet former UFC fighter Cindy Dandois at the promotion’s December 29 show. Additionally, at the promotion’s New Year’s Eve event, Shinju Auclair would face Chelsea LaGrasse in a rematch of an amateur bout several months back.

It’s a big move for Dandois (8–3), after a curious misfire in the UFC. The 33-year old appeared in that promotion in April, losing to Alexis Davis in a unanimous decision at UFC Nashville. Following the loss, she was cut from the promotion — an odd move given it was her only appearance with the company, and given the UFC’s relative need for fresh flood in the women’s divisions. Nevertheless, Dandois, who had previously fought for Invicta FC and M-1, was in need of a new home.

At least for now, she has two. Dandois already has a bout set at Cage Warriors 89 at the end of November. Then in December, she’ll be facing the undefeated KING Reina (7-0) in her RIZIN debut. The bout will mark Reina’s seventh of 2017. Splitting her time between RIZIN FF and DEEP, the Japanese fighter has defeated Shayna Baszler, Jazzy Gabert, and Crystal Stokes among others this year.

Also announced Friday was a bout between Shinju Auclair and Chelsea LaGrasse. LaGrasse will be making her professional debut at the event. The American went 3-0 as an amateur, however, and owns a win over opponent Auclair via a DQ earlier in 2017.

Shinju Nozawa-Auclair (1-0) made her professional debut for RIZIN in July, defeating Sheena Brandenburg. On December 31, she’ll get an opportunity to avenge her loss to LaGrasse.

The RIZIN Fighting Federation World Grand Prix Second Round/Final Round Cards currently look as follows:

Second Round (December 29):

Bantamweight GP Quarter Finals

Final Round (December 31)

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