Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara held a press conference for Rizin FF 36, and announced 13 bouts for the promotion’s seventh event of the year.
We are very excited to be back in Okinawa after a successful regional debut,” Sakakibara said. “We will be having several local stars from legends to prospects who are motivated to showcase their skills on a major platform. We are excited to put on an event with full capacity and continue coming back to the wonderful island of Okinawa. We will start to pick up the pace of events starting this summer, and am looking at 7-8 more events for the rest of the year.
Kai Asakura vs. Ji Yong Yang
Former bantamweight champion Kai Asakura (19-4 MMA, 11-3 RFF) returns to the RIZIN ring after his Grand Prix runner-up finish at RIZIN.33. Asakura’s 10 wins in RIZIN puts him at second all-time in promotional history, along with having the second most KO/TKO wins with 6. Coming into this bout as a heavy favorite, 5 of his last 7 wins are 1st round KOs and he is 3-1 in his last 4 bouts. He also holds a unique stat; he has defeated every opponent he has faced, having beaten all 4 men who hold victories over him. However, in only 1 of these matchups did he win the 2nd meeting – each of his other 3 defeats came in the rematch.
Ji Yong Yang (4-0 MMA, 0-0 RFF) carries a perfect 9-0 combined professional and amateur record, but is taking on a massive step up in competition against one of Asia’s top bantamweights. Yang’s 4 professional opponents had a combined record of 8-1. Can the undefeated ROAD FC prospect produce the biggest upset in promotional history against the former champion?
Hiroaki Suzuki vs. Ren Hiramoto
Horoaki Suzuki (2-1 MMA, 2-1 RFF) is making just his 4th appearance as a mixed martial artist, competing exclusively in RIZIN. A brace of knockout victories over Keisuke Okuda and longtime veteran Shoji Maruyama in under three minutes combined clearly demonstrate the power that the former kickboxing champion carries.
Ren Hiramoto (0-2 MMA, 0-2 RFF) holds a multitude of amateur kickboxing titles, even defeating Tenshin Nasukawa, but twice finished as a runner-up in professional tournaments. He was ranked as a top-10 featherweight for two years until transitioning to MMA, where he is yet to score his first win after two appearances in RIZIN. The fans are guaranteed fireworks between these two strikers.
Kohei Tokeshi vs. Atsushi Kishimoto
Kohei Tokeshi (7-8 MMA, 1-1 RFF) is a Lethwei and Muay Thai professional, born and raised in Okinawa and is a regular main eventer in Lethwei. He often uses his earnings from fighting to build schools in Myanmar. He recently returned from a four-and-a-half-year hiatus in MMA at Rizin FF 32 against current DEEP Lightweight Champion Juri Ohara, before scoring his first win in MMA in over 5 years when he defeated a very game Harry Stallone at Rizin Trigger 2nd last February.
Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs. Nobuyoshi Nakatsukasa
Mitsuhisa Sunabe (29-10-4 MMA, 0-3 RFF) makes his foutth appearance in Rizin since 2017. The former Pancrase flyweight and strawweight champion has lost his last three bouts, with two of them coming by stoppage. Prior to this three-fight skid, he was unbeaten for nearly seven years and 16 bouts. The 42-year-old hometown hero is still on the hunt for his first promotional victory, and gave the crowd their money’s worth in his last appearance in front of his fans.
Nobuyoshi Nakatsukasa (7-4 MMA, 0-1 RFF) is the Wardog Cage Fight strawweight champion, having won the belt last October with a 2nd round submission win. He scored a 65-second TKO victory five months ago at GLADIATOR 016 in Osaka, before losing his Rizin debut against Takaki Soya at Rizin Trigger 3rd in April.
Mizuki “Nisse” Oshiro vs. Moeri Suda
Mizuki Oshiro (4-5 MMA, 1-0 RFF) is a former DEEP Wwomen’s microweight title challenger, losing via first round submission against recent RIZIN debutant Saori Oshima. She won her RIZIN debut at RIZIN.32 last November, edging out a split decision over Aira Koga.
Moeri Suda’s (5-2 MMA, 0-0 RFF) last bout was a failed attempt at Oshima’s DEEP JEWELS atomweight championship, losing by submission in the first round last month. After an 0-2 start to her professional career, she rattled off 5 straight wins – 3 by armbar – including wins against RIZIN alum Eru Takebayashi and DEEP JEWELS atomweight grand prix finalist Hikaru Aono.
Yutaro Muramoto vs. Shinichi “BJ” Kojima
Yutaro Muramoto (8-6-2 MMA, 1-2 RFF) makes his 4th appearance in Rizin. He is 4-2-1 in his last 7 bouts, with his lone win in RIZIN coming by first-round KO against Seigo Yamamoto at RIZIN.27. He was set to appear at Rizin FF 32 in Okinawa last year, but withdrew due to injury and now returns for his Okinawa debut.
Shinichi “BJ” Kojima (14-6-5 MMA, 0-0 RFF) is a former Shooto 123-pound champion, and made his professional debut near the end of 2003. After losing his first fight, he went on a 12-fight unbeaten streak, including a pair of matches against Mamoru Yamaguchi, capturing the Shooto bantamweight championship in the rematch after a draw in their first meeting. Eventually, Kojima suffered a knee injury, forcing him to vacate the Shooto belt. Six and a half years since his last bout, the 43-year-old looks to produce a vintage performance against Muramoto.
Yuki Ito vs. Yuichi Miyagi
Yuki Ito (10-3 MMA, 2-0 RFF) holds a perfect promotional record, stopping Kohei Sugiyama and Yusaku Nakamura in under 6 minutes combined. A DEEP flyweight title challenger, Ito looks to extend his win-streak in RIZIN to 3-0 after scoring his 10th professional victory last month at DEEP 107.
Yuichi Miyagi (17-11-1 MMA, 1-0 RFF) is the former Interim GLADIATOR 54-kilogram champion, capturing the title at GLADIATOR 005 in January of 2018 against Yuki Yoshimura. Recently, he challenged Masayuki Watanabe for the GLADIATOR flyweight championship last September at GLADIATOR 015, where he came up short via unanimous decision. He is 10-4-1 in his last 15, including a 9-fight unbeaten streak from November 2016 to August 2020. He won his Rizin debut against Tomohiro Adaniya with a 47-second knee KO at the last Rizin Okinawa event.
Yamato Fujita vs. Tatsuya So
Originally a kickboxer, Yamato Fujita (8-4 MMA, 0-1 RFF) made his MMA debut against Tenshin Nasukawa at RIZIN.7 in October 2017. Despite a rough start to his MMA career, going 2-3 in his first 5 bouts, the 29-year-old was able to put together a 6-fight win streak that saw him capture the DEEP interim flyweight championship at DEEP 103 last September, avenging his loss to Yuki Ito in the process. Despite losing the unification bout against Makoto ‘Shinryu’ Takahashi last month, he makes his return to the RIZIN ring a much more complete fighter since four and a half years ago.
Tatsuya So (18-18-4 MMA, 0-1 RFF) has put together one of the best stretches of his 40-fight career, going 4-2 in his last 6 bouts. He made his RIZIN debut at the previous Okinawa show, dropping a decision to Haruo Ochi. The one-time Tenkaichi fight flyweight title challenger has faced the who’s who of the Japanese MMA scene, and is carrying momentum to score perhaps his biggest win yet should he get past former DEEP champion Fujita.
Miyuu Yamamoto vs. Saori Oshima
Miyuu Yamamoto (6-6 MMA, 6-6 RFF) is the three-time women’s world wrestling championship gold medalist. Having competed for her entire career under the RIZIN banner, she holds multiple promotional records and is 5-3 in her last 8 outings.
Saori Oshima (8-3 MMA, 1-0 RFF) is 5-1 in her last 6, having conquered the DEEP Jewels atomweight grand prix last year along with her signature win against super atomweight grand prix champion Kanna Asakura in her RIZIN debut at RIZIN.31 last October. With 3 of her last 5 wins coming by first round submission, and Yamamoto having suffered 4 of her 6 losses by submission, this should prove to be a dynamic battle for position between the two grapplers.
Kyle Aguon vs. Sora Yamamoto
Kyle Aguon (14-10 MMA, 1-2 RFF) has already faced some of the division’s toughest competition in his three appearances, losing against Vugar Karamov at RIZIN.21, Kleber Koike at RIZIN.26 and scoring his first RIZIN win against former DEEP champion Takahiro Ashida with a gritty performance at RIZIN.35 in April. Just before his RIZIN debut, he fought to a split decision loss in a title fight for the Pancrase featherweight strap against Isao Kobayashi at Pancrase 309 in October 2019. Having only lost to the division’s elite, a win would certainly keep him on the books for another top contender fight.
Sora Yamamoto (15-6-2 MMA, 2-1 RFF) is coming off a 2nd round submission win to defend his Fighting NEXUS featherweight title, and is 8-1 in his last 9 bouts. Despite losing his promotional debut at RIZIN TRIGGER 1st last November to Chihiro Suzuki, Yamamoto rebounded with a 35-second KO win over Suguru Nii at RIZIN TRIGGER 2nd, followed by a close decision win over veteran and fan-favorite Daisuke Nakamura.
The Rizin FF 36 lineup includes:
- Kai Asakura vs. Yan Ji Yeon
- Kohei Tokeshi vs. Atsushi Kishimoto
- Tanner Lourenco vs .Oriya Oshiro
- Hiroaki Suzuki vs. Ren Hiramoto
- Sora Yamamoto vs, Kyle Aguon
- Yutaro Muramoto vs. Shinichi Kojima
- Yuki Ito vs. Yuichi Miyagi
- Yamato Fujita vs. Tatsuya So
- Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs. Nobuyoshi Nakatsukasa
- Saori Oshima vs. Miyuu Yamamoto
- Nisse vs. Suda Moeri
- Katsumi Miyagi vs. Yuki Yoshino – kickboxing bout
- Taiga vs. Soichiro Mita – kickboxing bout
