Bantamweight, Flyweight Title Bouts Set for Rizin 45 on New Year’s Eve

Rizin Fighting Federation’s annual New Year’s Eve extravaganza will include a pair of championship bouts.

The Japanese promotion recently announced that Juan Archuleta will face Kai Asakura for the bantamweight crown, while Kyoji Horiguchi will square off against Makoto Takahashi in a rematch for the flyweight strap at Rizin 45 on Dec. 31.

Rizin 45 takes place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and will also include a featherweight scrap pitting Kleber Koike Erbst against Yutaka Saito and a flyweight showdown between Hiromasa Ougikubo and John Dodson.

A former Bellator 135-pound title holder, Archuleta claimed Rizin gold with a three-round verdict against Ougikubo at Super Rizin 2 on July 30. “The Spaniard” has won four straight contests — including three under the Rizin banner.

Asakura, meanwhile, has been victorious in four of his last five Rizin appearances. Most recently, the 29-year-old Japan Top Team representative scored a third-round knockout of Yuki Motoya at Rizin 42 on May 6.

Horiguchi is a former Bellator bantamweight champion and UFC flyweight title challenger. The 33-year-old American Top Team product took a two-bout winning streak into his most recent outing, when the clash against Takahasi at Bellator vs. Rizin 2 ended via no contest in just 25 seconds due to an accidental eye poke.

Prior to his abbreviated first meeting with Horiguchi, Takahasi had been victorious in 10 straight fights. During that stretch, the 23-year-old known as “Shinryu” earned wins in Rizin, Bellator, Deep and Cage Fury Fighting Championships.Tsuyoshi Kamiyama vs Mikio Ueda Shinobu Ota vs Ryusei Ashizawa Igor Tanabe vs Shinsho Anzai Satoshi Yamasu vs Suguru Nii Kota Miura vs Koji Tanaka Seika Izawa vs Miyuu Yamamoto Yushi Sakura vs Jyo Hiramoto Yuta Kubo vs Rukiya Anpo Ren Hiramoto vs Ren Sugiyama Jo Arai vs Hiroya Kondo Ryujin Nasukawa vs Jong Min Shin Yuki Motoya vs Vince Morales