Featherweight Championship Bout Tops Rizin 39 Lineup on Oct. 23

Rizin Fighting Federation featherweight champion Juntaro Ushiku will defend his crown against Kleber Koike Erbst in the Rizin 39 main event on Oct. 23.

The Japanese promotion recently announced the booking, along with the following bouts: Koji Takeda vs. Zach Zane at lightweight; Motonobu Tezuka vs. Mehman Mamedov at bantamweight; Vugar Karamov vs. Yoshiki Nakahara at featherweight and Daichi Abe vs. Yukinari Tamura at welterweight.

Ushiku, who is also the reigning Deep champion, claimed Rizin gold with a second-round stoppage of Yutaka Saito at Rizin 31 this past October. He defended the crown with a unanimous verdict against Saito in a rematch at Rizin 35 on April 17. The 27-year-old Tokyo native has won 10 of his last 11 professional outings and is 20-6 over the course of his career.

A former KSW title holder, Erbst has kicked off his Rizin tenure with five consecutive submission triumphs. Most recently, he dispatched Kyohei Hagiwara in the opening stanza of their clash at Rizin “Landmark Vol. 3” on May 5. The 32-year-old Sao Paulo native has won 12 of his last 13 bouts, with his only defeat during that stretch coming at the hands of current UFC talent Mateusz Gamrot. Erbst’s 30-5-1 career mark includes 26 wins by way of submission.

Rizin 39 takes place at Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan.Shinji Sasaki vs Sho Usami Takahiro Ashida vs Hirotaka Nakada Yusuke Yachi vs Boyd Allen Tsuyoshi Kamiyama vs Janos Csukas