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Rizin organizes a sacred New Year's Eve party.
Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell will travel to Japan to fight Rizin champion Kyoji Horiguchi in Rizin on December 31 at the Saitama Super Arena, the two promotions announced Thursday morning. The fight will be for the Rizin title of 135 pounds.
Caldwell (13-1) had won four consecutive victories for Bellator and has established himself as one of the world's best fighters in the lower weight clbades. The former NCAA wrestling champion recently defeated Noad Lahat in a 145-pound bout in the round of 16 in the second round in August. Caldwell, 30, holds the Bellator title since winning Eduardo Dantas in October 2017.
Horiguchi (25-2), a former UFC weight challenger, has won his seven fights since coming to Rizin as a "free agent" in 2017. The Krazy Bee product has finished all but two of his fights and was the Rizin 2017 winner of the grand prix rooster. Horiguchi, 28, was last beaten in September against the Tenshin Nasukawa phenomenon.
Rizin also announced Thursday the signing of several new recruits, including the recent outings of UFC, Ulka Sasaki and Justin Scoggins. UFC veteran Damien Brown will come to Japan to fight teammate Daron Cruickshank. Former light heavyweight champion Bellator, Emanuel Newton, will meet Jiri Prochazka.
Of course, in the Main Event, Floyd Mayweather will face Nasukawa in a boxing match match.
Here is the full range of Rizin 14 announced on Thursday:
Darrion Caldwell against Kyoji Horiguchi
Floyd Mayweather vs. Tenshin Nasukawa
Ayaka Hamasaki against Kanna Asakura
Ulka Sasaki against Manel Kape
Yusuke Yachi against Johnny Case
Rena Kubota against Samantha Jean-Francois
Yuki Motoya vs. Justin Scoggins
Kazuyuki Miyata against Erson Yamamoto
Nobumitsu Tyson against Tofiq Musayev
Daron Cruickshank against Damien Brown
Shinju Nozawa Auclair against Justyna Haba
Jiri Prochazka against Emanuel Newton
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