[Event] Rizin 45 - Archuleta vs. Asakura - Dec 31

Dent · **Posted:** Tue Dec 19, 2023 3:14 pm

Rizin 45: Archuleta vs. Asakura will be a Combat sport event held by Rizin Fighting Federation on December 31, 2023, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Fight Card

Main Card

Bantamweight 61 kg United States Juan Archuleta (c) vs. Japan Kai Asakura Bantamweight Championship
Flyweight 57 kg Japan Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Japan Makoto Takahashi Inaugural Flyweight Championship
Featherweight 66 kg Brazil Kleber Koike Erbst vs. Japan Yutaka Saito
Flyweight 57 kg Japan Hiromasa Ougikubo vs. United States John Dodson
Featherweight 66 kg Japan YA-MAN vs. Japan Ren Hiramoto
Bantamweight 61 kg Japan Shinobu Ota vs. Japan Ryusei Ashizawa
Heavyweight 120 kg Japan Tsuyoshi Sudario vs. Japan Mikio Ueda
Catchweight 70 kg Japan Rukiya Anpo vs. Japan Yuta Kubo RIZIN MMA Special rules
Super Atomweight 49 kg Japan Seika Izawa vs. Japan Miyuu Yamamoto Non-title bout and Yamamoto retirement bout
Catchweight 65 kg Japan Kota Miura vs. Japan Kouzi
Featherweight 66 kg Japan Satoshi Yamasu vs. Japan Suguru Nii
Welterweight 77 kg Brazil Igor Tanabe vs. Japan Shinsho Anzai
Catchweight 60 kg Japan Tatsuki Shinotsuka vs. Japan Daichi Tomizawa Kickboxing rules
Bantamweight 61 kg Japan Yushi vs. Japan Joe Hiramoto
Bantamweight 61 kg Japan Yuki Motoya vs. United States Vince Morales
Flyweight 57 kg Japan Jo Arai vs. Japan Hiroya Kondo
Catchweight 54 kg Japan Ryujin Nasukawa vs. South Korea Shin Jong-min

Background

A Rizin Bantamweight Championship bout between reigning champion Juan Archuleta and former champion Kai Asakura is scheduled to headline the event.

A rematch for the inaugural Rizin Flyweight Championship between former Rizin Bantamweight champion (also former Bellator Bantamweight champion) Kyoji Horiguchi and current Deep Flyweight champion (also former Cage Fury FC Flyweight champion) Makoto Takahashi is scheduled to serve as the co-main event. The pairing previously met at Super Rizin 2 in July 2023, where the bout was declared a no contest after Horiguchi accidentally poked Takahashi in the eye.

In the featherweight division, a clash between two former champions should take place at the event when Kleber Koike Erbst meets Yutaka Saito.

A flyweight bout between 2021 Rizin Japanese Bantamweight Grand Prix winner Hiromasa Ougikubo and current BKFC Flyweight champion John Dodson is scheduled to take place at the event.

A 155-pound catchweight kickboxing bout between former K-1 Super Lightweight champion Rukiya Anpo and former K-1 Super Welterweight champion Minoru Kimura was expected to take place at the event. However, the fight was cancelled after Kimura tested positive for a banned substance once again.

Juan Archuleta

He started wrestling from a young age and was an NJCAA All-American in college, and was active in NCAA Division 1 at the university he transferred to. He won by decision at BAMMA USA: BADBEAT 10 in August 2013, his professional MMA debut. He went on to win four straight, and with that momentum, he challenged Andres Pons at WSOF in March 2015, but lost by submission. However, he continued to win consecutive matches after that, and in June 2016, he signed to KOTC and won the flyweight title. In 2017, he won the lightweight, bantamweight, and junior welterweight titles one after another, achieving the remarkable feat of conquering all four weight classes at KOTC. He won his bantamweight title defense against Mark Dickman in December 2017, and in his first Bellator appearance in March 2018, he won a decision over William Joplin. He went on to secure wins over Robbie Peralta, Jeremy Spoon, Ricky Bandejas, and Eduardo Dantas, winning 5 straight fights in Bellator. However, at the Bellator Featherweight World Championship in September 2019, he challenged champion Patricio Pitbull in the Bellator World Featherweight Title Match, which was held as the first round of the GP, but lost by decision. In September 2020, he achieved a come-from-behind victory in the bantamweight championship match against Patrick Mix and was crowned champion. He defended his title against Sergio Pettis in May 2021, but lost by decision and lost his title. In the first round of the Bantamweight World GP held in April 2022, he faced Raufeon Stotts in the Bellator World Bantamweight interim title deciding match, but was defeated in the first round of the GP. In October, he won a decision over former UFC fighter Enrique Barzola, marking his return to action with a victory. In RIZIN's first competition on New Year's Eve 2022, he defeated Kim Soo-Chul, signaling a complete comeback. In his second RIZIN match against Naoki Inoue in May of this year, he showed off his strength and won a decision. In July's Super RIZIN, It had been decided that he would compete, but Kai Asakura’s absence due to injury caused him to face GP champion Hiromasa Ougikubo. He won a unanimous decision and became the champion. He wants to show Kai Asakura the strength of a champion in this event and make his first defense.

Kai Asakura

He went undefeated as THE OUTSIDER champion in the 55-60kg category. He also fought in South Korea's ROAD FC. In his RIZIN debut on New Year's Eve 2017, he defeated Kizaemon Saiga by TKO, followed by wins over Manel Kape and avenged his sole loss to that point against Jae-hoon Moon, and in August 2019, defeated bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi in just 68 seconds. In the following October tournament, he faced Ulka Sasaki and defeated him by breaking his jaw with a powerful punch in the first round. His match for the bantamweight title against Kyoji Horiguchi was scheduled for that New Year's Eve, but Horiguchi gave up the belt due to injury. He challenged Manel Kape to a rematch to determine the title, but he lost by TKO. In his restart in August 2020, he competed against Hiromasa Ogikubo for the title that had become vacant due to Manel's transfer to the UFC. At the end of the 1st round, he landed a flying right uppercut and a knee that sent Ougikubo to the mat and successfully regained the belt. In his second consecutive event in September, he competed against veteran Shoji in a non-title match, and in the 1st round he won by soccer kick. In his rematch with Kyoji Horiguchi on New Year's Eve, he lost by TKO in the 1st round, and was unable to make his first defense. In the first round of the bantamweight GP held at Tokyo Dome in June 2021, he delivered strong ground and pound against Shooto Watanabe and won by TKO. In the next round against Alan ‘Hiro’ Yamaniha, even though he was injured, he won a unanimous decision. In the semi-finals, he defeated Kenta Takizawa. Although he advanced to the finals, he was unable to win a rematch with Hiromasa Ougikubo and finished as runner-up. After that, he was sidelined for a long time due to injury treatment, but in May of this year, about 1 year and 5 months later, he won a TKO victory over Yuki Motoya with a knee to the body. He was scheduled to face Juan Archuleta - who defeated Naoki Inoue in the co-main of the same event - in July, but he withdrew due to injury. He wants to challenge the champion Archuleta in this event, regain the belt, and make a complete comeback.

[Event] Rizin 45 - Archuleta vs. Asakura - Dec 31

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