Juntaro Ushiku to Defend 145-Pound Title Against Kleber Koike Erbst Atop Rizin 39

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📅10.23(日)
🏟マリンメッセ福岡
📝https://t.co/onGIikBAHR

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Several competitors from the July 31 Rizin Fighting Federation showcase are ready to fight again less than three months later.

Rizin held a press conference on Wednesday to announce its next numbered event, Rizin 39, that will be staged at the Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan, on Oct. 23. The main event had been rumored to be a featherweight championship battle between Juntaro Ushiku (20-6) and Kleber Koike Erbst (30-5-1), and it was confirmed at this presser. Additionally, the entire lineup was announced, coupled with the news that Rizin will return internationally to Fite.tv as its pay-per-view broadcaster.

Ushiku has quietly put together a solid run as a Rizin fighter, unbeaten in both of his appearances since wresting the title from Yutaka Saito in his Rizin debut in 2021. The concurrent Deep champion has jumped back and forth between the leagues for title defenses, staving off Kouya Kanda in Deep in December 2021, and bouncing back to Rizin in April. In that April Rizin return, Ushiku proved the doctor stoppage victory was not a fluke by taking a decision over Saito to defend his strap. “Fighting Bull” does not post a high finish rate, with just 30% of his victories coming inside the distance, but they have all been by knockout.

While Ushiku’s stoppage rate is low, the challenger Erbst has earned 28 of his 30 victories inside the distance. Erbst surged through his opposition following a championship run in KSW by submitting all five of his Rizin opponents to get a crack at this throne. A whopping 26 of his stoppages have come by submission, and he has not needed the judges to get his hand raised since he overcame Marcin Wrzosek at KSW 39 in 2017. Over the last decade, Erbst has only fallen short to Artur Sowinski – a loss he avenged two years later by tapout – and two-division KSW king Mateusz Gamrot.

Rizin 39 Lineup:

Juntaro Ushiku vs. Kleber Koike Erbst – featherweight title
Koji Takeda vs. Zach Zane – lightweight
Motonobu Tezuka vs. Mehman Mamedov – bantamweight
Vugar Karamov vs. Yoshiki Nakahara – featherweight
Daichi Abe vs. Yukinari Tamura – welterweight
Tsuyoshi Kamiyama vs. Janos Csukas – heavyweight
Yusuke Yachi vs. Boyd Allen – lightweight
Takahiro Ashida vs. Hirotaka Nakada – featherweight
Shinji Sasaki vs. Sho Usami – 165-pound catchweight
Genji Umeno vs. Trent Girdham – bantamweight kickboxing with elbows
Reito Bravely vs. Koichiro Seki – 139-pound catchweight kickboxing
Shogo Kuriaki vs. Kakeru Miura – flyweight kickboxing