Rizin Adds 4 Bouts to NYE Card, Including Seika Izawa vs. Miyuu Yamamoto

#RIZIN45 Press Conference #3📸

4 more matchups for New Year's 👀 pic.twitter.com/dp9dulOS2l

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) November 24, 2023

Rizin Fighting Federation’s year-end show has gained four matches and lost one a bit over a month before it takes place.

Per a press release provided by the organization on Friday morning, Rizin 45 will be gaining four matches, including one involving a pound-for-pound talent. The Dec. 31 show will take place in its annual showcase site of the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and multiple championship tilts will play out across the evening. Four new fights have graced the lineup, while one additional match has been scratched.

Bouts added to the billing include a major women’s super atomweight tilt (108 pounds) between no. 1 atomweight Seika Izawa (11-0) and aging divisional stalwart Miyuu Yamamoto (6-7). Izawa claimed the top spot by knocking off Ayaka Hamasaki at Rizin 33 to end 2021, and she put a stamp on her rankings placement by beating Hamasaki again a few months later. Three additional victories under the Rizin banner have kept her busy the last two years. Meanwhile, this will be Yamamoto’s first appearance since July 2022, and the 49-year-old has dropped three straight bouts to Hamasaki, Rena Kubota and Saori Oshima in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.

The other three fights include a welterweight scrap between Igor Tanabe (4-0) and Shinsho Anzai (9-5), a featherweight contest pitting Satoshi Yamasu (12-7) against Suguru Nii (13-9) and a matchup of Kota Miura (2-1) vs. kickboxer Koji Tanaka (0-0) at a to-be-determined weight class. Finally, the fight no longer on the card was a kickboxing match between Rukiya Anpo and Minoru Kimura, when the latter failed a drug test. The promotion is currently seeking a replacement for Kimura.