Rizin Adds Trio of Bouts to July Card Including Debut of Ivan Shtyrkov

#RIZIN17 is absurd.

Yachi x Asakura
Motoya x Ogikubo
Sasaki x Ishiwatari
Souza x Hirota
Heun x Shemetov
Kitaoka x Case
Ham x Maesawa
Ross x Watabe
Kawajiri x Abdulkhalikov
TAIGA x Machida
Shtyrkov x Hoon
REINA x Egger pic.twitter.com/zIthBaHHej

— Mike Skytte (@MikeLovesTacosX) July 4, 2019

Rizin Fighting Federation is putting together quite a card for the end of July, adding three more fights to an already solid lineup.

The promotion announced Thursday via press release three additional bouts it is adding to the card. At light heavyweight, former Ultimate Fighting Championship signee Ivan Shtyrkov (16-0-1) will face South Korea's Hoon Kim (10-12-2, 1 NC). Also, the enigmatic Reina Miura (11-2) meets Stephanie Egger (3-1) in a 139-pound affair. Finally, under kickboxing rules, Taiga Kawabe will return to Rizin to battle Hikaru Machida.

Shtyrkov was set to make his Octagon debut against Devin Clark at UFC Fight Night 149 in April, but was forced to withdraw with what was then explained as an illness. Since then, it has come to light that one of Shtyrkov's pre-fight drug test came back with abnormal results showing exogenous sources of testosterone. The UFC granted his release upon request, and the unbeaten Russian will debut with Rizin in less than a month.

Although Hoon holds a sub-.500 record, he was the first man to ever defeat UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker, tapping him with a triangle choke in just over three minutes in 2011. Throughout his career, he has also competed against the likes of Ikuhisa Minowa, Daiju Takase and Riki Fukuda -- holding a knockout win over the latter. The 39-year-old has not competed since October 2017, where he lost a decision to Young Choi at Road FC 43.

Reina's only two career losses have come inside the Rizin ring, by decision to Cindy Dandois in 2017 and Kaitlin Young in 2018. "King Reina" is currently on a two-fight win streak, defeating Judith Ruis on the scorecards before knocking out Mao Ueda in 25 seconds last March. She also fought to a draw with current UFC flyweight contender Liz Carmouche at grappling event Quintet Fight Night 3 this April.

A one-time competitor on the Invicta Fighting Championships stage, all three of Egger's pro wins have come by the end of the first round. Her last outing saw her finish Eeva Siiskonen by knockout in just over two minutes in March 2018.

Rizin 17 will take place on July 28 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Rizin 17 Lineup:

Yusuke Yachi vs. Mikuru Asakura
Yuki Motoya vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo
Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Yuta Sasaki
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Ali Abdulkhalikov
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Johnny Case
Roberto de Souza vs. Mizuto Hirota
Seo Hee Ham vs. Tomo Maesawa
Jake Heun vs. Vitaly Shemetov
Ivan Shtyrkov vs. Hoon Kim
Reina Miura vs. Stephanie Egger
Kevin Ross vs. Daiki Watabe
Taiga Kawabe vs. Hikari Machida