‘King Ryan’ Japan-Bound For Super RIZIN 3

Garcia will be in attendance for the big RIZIN FF event headlined by Manny Pacquiao as rumors swirl that he’s considering a New Year’s Eve fight in Japan.

Ryan Garcia is headed to Japan.

The troubled boxing superstar has had a wild year. Despite going through a mental spiral that had many questioning whether he should even compete, Garcia shocked the world by beating Devin Haney in an April fight. That win was then overturned when the New York State Athletic Commission found Ostarine in a drug test, leading them to suspend “King Ryan” until April 2025.

In North America, at least.

Garcia initially declared he’d compete in the UFC while suspended from boxing. Unfortunately for him, mixed martial arts (MMA) is regulated by the same athletic commissions as boxing and none of them will step on a suspension issued by a fellow Association of Boxing Commission member. Now there are reports that Garcia plans on boxing in Japan instead, where there’s no major commission with the power to stop him.

We shared the news that Garcia was in talks to fight on New Year’s Eve, along with claims that Ryan might fly to Japan to meet with combat sports promotion RIZIN Fighting Federation for their big Super RIZIN 3 event headlined by Manny Pacquiao. Now the promotion and Garcia are confirming he’ll be at Saitama Super Arena for the July 28th show.

“Ryan Garcia here, my announcement is this: I’m headed to Japan,” he said on a social media post shared across all RIZIN FF accounts. “I’m headed to Japan because I’m going to be at the RIZIN event … I can’t wait to meet all my fans in Japan. Arigato, from my heart to your heart, I love you, I’m going to learn to say ‘I love you’ in Japanese, I’m going to tell every Japanese I love them, konichi-wa.”

RIZIN FF is the brainchild of PRIDE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara and started out featuring a mix of MMA and kickboxing bouts. In 2018, the promotion made waves when it coaxed Floyd Mayweather out of retirement for his first exhibition boxing bout against kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa. “Money” returned to Japan for Super RIZIN 1 in 2022, defeating Mikuru Asakura. And now Manny Pacquiao is set to headline Super RIZIN 3 against Rukiya Anpo on July 28th … with Ryan Garcia making an appearance.

Garcia is playing a dangerous game trying to skirt the suspension issued by NYSAC. While there’s no commission in Japan that can stop him from fighting for RIZIN FF, fighters who have tried this sort of run-around in the past have faced further suspensions from the original commission in response. Garcia will need to apply for a new license in 2025 before he can fight in North America again. There would definitely be questions raised if he competes in a New Year’s Eve fight.

What do you think, Maniacs? Is Garcia reckless enough to go for it anyway?