RIZIN 13 Lineup Revealed In Japan

RIZIN, the spiritual successor to PRIDE, held a press conference Friday morning from Tokyo and revealed the lineup for their next event, RIZIN 13 on September 30th from Saitama Super Arena. headlining the card is a bout of extreme importance to the Japanese combat sports scene: Tenshin Nasukawa vs. Kyoji Horiguchi under RIZIN Kickboxing rules. Tenshin is a rising star with a perfect 26-0 kickboxing record, while Horiguchi is 25-2 in MMA and on a 10 fight win streak. This will be his kickboxing debut.

Other important reveals: the addition of kickboxer Taiga to the RIZIN roster. He’ll be taking on Kento Haraguchi. Daron Cruickshank vs. Diego Brandao is a battle of the UFC veterans, and Mirko CroCop will return to Japan to fight DEEP Megaton Champ Roque Martinez, who thrilled the crowd at RIZIN 12 with a violent win.

Here’s the full list of fight announcements:

TAIGA vs Kento Haraguchi (kickboxing)
Kyoji Horiguchi vs Tenshin (kickboxing)
Daron Cruickshank vs Diego Brandao
Jiri Prochazka vs Jake Heun
Andy Nguyen vs Miyuu Yamamoto II
Yusaku Nakamura vs Manel Kape
Mikuru Asakura vs Karshyga Dautbek
Kai Asakura vs Topnoi
Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs Haruo Ochi
Cro Cop vs Roque Martinez