Fight announcements for RIZIN 37 from 2pm
JST! Live translation thread will be provided here on our official
English Twitter account!Stay tuned for some great matchups! https://t.co/zTXgTaVeB9
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English)
July 7, 2022
Rizin Fighting Federation has made the lineup
for its 2022 return to the Saitama Super Arena one to remember.
The organization sent out its press release on Thursday morning
confirming the 15-bout listing for Rizin
37. This July 31 fight card will post up inside the iconic
Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and it will feature the
opening round of its first women’s atomweight tournament since
2017. A few matchups have been added, including Marcos
Yoshio Souza vs. Daichi Abe
at a 176-pound catchweight, while Sora
Yamamoto will also be joining the event against Vugar
Karamov by replacing Rikuto
Shirakawa.
While much of the event had
already been put together earlier in July, the entirety of the
2022 Super Atomweight Grand Prix – as titled by the promotion – is
on the books. If the billing remains in this order, it will begin
with a battle of unbeatens when divisional champ Seika Izawa
(6-0) meets Maria
Laura Alves Fontoura (7-0). Following that match, former champ
Ayaka
Hamasaki (23-5) will square off with WMMA pioneer Jessica
Aguilar (20-9). The co-main event will see 2017 tourney champ
Kanna
Asakura (19-6) face Si Woo Park
(7-4), while the current headliner places Rena Kubota
(12-4) against relative neophyte Anastasiya
Svetkivska (2-0).
Per Rizin head Nobuyuki Sakakibara in a recent press conference,
the semifinals will be held in September, while the finals will
take place at traditional New Year’s Eve show.
“The semi-finals will take place at the end of September,”
Sakakibara stated. “Finals on NYE. We will not hold two fights in
one [event] this time. The way of semi-finals matchups are not
determined yet.”
Although not set in stone, the current plan is for Hideki
Sekine (12-5) to match up with Tsuyoshi
Kamiyama (4-1) – also known as Tsuyoshi Sudario – in the
highest-featured non-tournament bout on the card. The intermission
has not yet been determined, but additional pairings with high
places on the card include a lightweight contest between Johnny Case
(27-8-1) and Koji Takeda
(13-3), a featherweight clash pitting Karamov (16-4) against
replacement Yamamoto (12-4) and a 145-pound affair between Yuta Sasaki
(23-10-2) and Yoshiki
Nakahara (15-5).
Rizin 37 Lineup:
Rena
Kubota vs. Anastasiya
Svetkivska – women’s atomweight quarterfinal
Kanna
Asakura vs. Si Woo Park
– women’s atomweight quarterfinal
Ayaka
Hamasaki vs. Jessica
Aguilar – women’s atomweight quarterfinal
Seika
Izawa vs. Maria
Laura Alves Fontoura – women’s atomweight quarterfinal
Hideki
Sekine vs. Tsuyoshi
Kamiyama – heavyweight
Johnny
Case vs. Koji Takeda
– lightweight
Vugar
Karamov vs. Sora
Yamamoto – featherweight
Yuta
Sasaki vs. Yoshiki
Nakahara – featherweight
Kota
Miura vs. Felipe
Masoni – featherweight
Yushi
Sakura vs. Takeru Sudo
– 137-pound catchweight
Naoki
Inoue vs. Kenta
Takizawa – bantamweight
Yuki
Motoya vs. Shinobu Ota
– bantamweight
Hideo
Tokoro vs. Makoto
Takahashi – flyweight
Marcos
Yoshio Souza vs. Daichi Abe –
176-pound catchweight
Ryusei vs. Kaishi – 128-pound catchweight kickboxing