Complete RIZIN women’s GP announced
All participants have now been named for RIZIN FF’s first ever woman’s GP, which will be held on December 29 at Super Atomweight (-49kg/108lbs).
RIZIN’s World GP series has become part of its staple concepts since their launch in 2015:
•King Mo was crowned the winner of the -100kg GP in 2015;
•Mirko Crocop won the Openweight GP last year by finishing all 4 opponents;
•The ongoing Bantamweight GP kicked off on July 30th, with Kyoji Horiguchi, Takafumi Otsuka and Khalid Taha advancing to the quarterfinals held on December 29th;
•The latest is RIZIN FF’s first ever woman’s GP, which will be held on December 29 at Super Atomweight (-49kg/108lbs), and all participants have now been named:
RENA vs. Andy Nguyen (previously announced)
Miyuu Yamamoto vs. Irene Rivera
Sylwia Juskiewicz vs. winner of Saori Ishioka vs Kanna Asakura
Alyssa Garcia vs. Maria Oliveira
Brackets for the women’s Super Atom weight GP have been determined and the winner of RENA vs. Andy Nguyen and Miyuu Yamamoto vs Irene Rivera will be facing each other in the semi finals. The winner of Alyssa Garcia vs. Maria Oliveira and Sywia Juskiewicz vs Asakura / Ishioka will be facing
each other in the other semi final fight.
Miyuu Yamamoto (1-2) will be facing Irene Rivera (6-4) from Spain, Josh Barnett’s protégé Alyssa Garcia (3-3) will be facing Angel’s & Fight champion Maria Oliveira (9-2), and the winner of Saori Ishioka (15-10) vs Kanna Asakura (7-2) will be taking on Poland’s Sylwia Juskiewicz (6-4).
Two matchups for the opening round for Bracket B of the ongoing Bantamweight GP include:
King of Pancrase, Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. young up and comer from Fight Nights Global Akhmed Musakaev
Erson Yamamoto vs Manel Kape
Japan’s top Bantamweight Shintaro Ishiwatari (22-6-4) has been in Japan’s MMA scene for a while, fighting in various promotions such as Shooto, Sengoku, VTJ, DEEP and Pancrase, with over 30 professional fights and memorial battles between Chan Sung Jung, Caol Uno, Kyoji Horiguchi, Johnathan Brookins and Rafael Silva. The King of Pancrase fighter is currently on a four-fight winning streak and has successfully defended his title three times.
Fight Nights Global’s newest addition to the Bantamweight division Akhmed Musakaev (5-0) made an electrifying promotional debut when he dominated his way to a unanimous decision against heavy favorite Ruslan Serikpulov. The 23 year old Russian made his professional debut in an 8 man one night
tournament, when he fought 3 times in one night to be crowned the tournament winner. Given his Sambo background, with his endless stamina, Fight Nights Global founder and CEO Kamil Gadhziev is extremely confident that Akhmed Musakaev may very well be the dark horse of this Grand Prix.
The member of Japan’s most known fight family, Erson Yamamoto (2-2), the nephew of Norifumi ‘KID’ Yamamoto, and the son of Woman’s wrestling pioneer and RIZIN fighter Miyuu Yamamoto will be entering the Bantam weight GP after winning his USA debut in devastating fashion. Yamamoto
competed in Greco Roman wrestling, was aiming for the Rio Olympics, but after being eliminated in the National tournament, he has moved on in taking MMA as his second form of sport.
Manel Kape, an Angolan currently living in Portugal, has been making some noise in the European circuit. He is the current champion for Invictus promotion in the regional circuit. The 23-year-old is currently on a four-fight winning streak finishing all fights looks to leave an unforgettable appearance to the Japanese and Global fans.
General Manager Nobuhiko Takada said that for the men’s Bantamweight GP, once all Quarter finalists have been determined, the matchups and brackets will be shuffled and determined later by a draw with all 8 quarter finalists.
Takada added that RIZIN will add 2-3 kickboxing bouts, giving local fighters the opportunity and exposure, with the total number of bouts to finalize at 11-12 bouts.
Confirmed bouts:
[Women’s Super Atom weight GP opening round]
RENA vs Andy Nguyen
Miyuu Yamamoto vs Irene Rivera
Saori Ishioka / Kanna Asakura vs Sylwia Juskiewicz
Alyssa Garcia vs Maria Oliveira
[Bantamweight GP opening round Bracket B]
Shintaro Ishiwatari vs Akhmed Musakaev
Erson Yamamoto vs Manel Kape
TBA vs TBA
[Grappling match]
Kazushi Sakuraba vs Dan Henderson
RIZIN FIGHTING FEDERATION WORLD GRAND-PRIX 2017
Doors open at 12:30 pm
Opening Ceremony at 2:00 pm
October 15th at the Fukuoka Marine Messe.
Tickets can be purchased at http://www.stubhub.com
