Bantamweight Grand Prix Semifinals Set for Rizin 33 on New Year’s Eve

Yogibo presents #RIZIN33 at the Saitama Super Arena. Bantamweight GP Semi-Final matchups confirmed. Former Champion and favorite Kai Asakura gets Kenta Takizawa. Former UFC contender Naoki Inoue gets TUF runner up Hiromasa Ougikubo. #RIZIN #MMAhttps://t.co/XTqRMN4cep

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) November 30, 2021

The Rizin Fighting Federation bantamweight grand prix will reach its conclusion at the promotion’s signature New Year’s Eve event.

The Japanese organization announced on Tuesday that Kai Asakura will meet Kenta Takizawa in one 135-pound semifinal at Rizin 33, while Naoki Inoue will square off against Hiromasa Ougikubo in the other half of the bracket. The finalists will lock horns later on the card.

Rizin 33 takes place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and will also see lightweight champion Roberto de Souza defend his crown against an as yet to be announced opponent. The card will be available internationally via pay-per-view and will include English commentary featuring Joe Ferraro and Damien Brown. Additionally, Yuki Motoya will face Yuto Hokamura in a bantamweight grand prix alternate bout in case one of the semifinalists is unable to compete or continue.

While Rizin had hoped to bring in more international fighters for the New Year’s Eve card, promotion CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara revealed during a press conference that ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in Japan have made achieving that goal difficult.

“We have had a rough year with COVID, and although we are grateful to have been able to make it with Japanese fighters, we were very much looking forward to bringing in international fighters for New Year’s Eve,” he said. “However, the Japanese government has just announced that Japan will be closing its borders for the next 30 days. We have still not been told that we are prohibited from bringing in international fighters, so at the moment I will say that we will continue to do our best to bring in international fighters, but if that doesn’t work out we will have some ideas to change up the current fight ideas we have.”