Rizin 34 on March 20 Official With 17-Fight Lineup

Rizin Fighting Federation’s next numbered event may seem light on star power, but it is chock full of excitement potential.

Per a press release by the organization on Friday morning, the Rizin 34 card on March 20 is now complete. The event will be held inside the Maruzen Intec Arena in Osaka, Japan, and a whopping 17 fights will be staged throughout the night. Nine of those contests will take place under MMA rules, and the remaining bouts will be kickboxing. The bout order may not be official, as the organization has listed its kickboxing matches first and then the MMA fights.

A welterweight clash has been added to the billing, as ex-Ultimate Fighting Championship competitors Kiichi Kunimoto (20-8-2, 1 NC) and Daichi Abe (9-5) throw down. “Strasser” has not tasted a defeat in the Rizin ring, and those three victories have accounted for his lone wins since leaving the UFC in 2017. His opponent Abe made his promotional debut at Rizin 31 in October 2021, where he ultimately succumbed to the second north-south choke in Rizin history as he had his three-fight win streak snapped by Akira Okada.

Other key MMA tilts on this marathon evening in Japan include a lightweight battle pitting Juri Ohara (29-17-2, 1 NC) against the aforementioned Okada (17-8-4), an encounter at 145 pounds between Satoshi Yamasu (11-6) and Kyohei Hagiwara (6-4) and a featherweight tilt as Daisuke Nakamura (32-20-1) takes on Sora Yamamoto (9-4).

Rizin 34 Lineup

Kiichi Kunimoto vs. Daichi Abe – welterweight
Juri Ohara vs. Akira Okada – lightweight
Satoshi Yamasu vs. Kyohei Hagiwara – featherweight
Daisuke Nakamura vs. Sora Yamamoto – featherweight
Ryuki Kaneda vs. Ayumu Yamamoto – 139-pound catchweight
Alan Yamaniha vs. Motonobu Tezuka – bantamweight
Ryuya Fukuda vs. Masayuki Watanabe – 132-pound catchweight
Daichi Kitakata vs. Yutaro Muramoto – flyweight
Tatsuki Saomoto vs. Yuto Uda – flyweight
Yuya vs. Yousuke Yamato – lightweight kickboxing
Masaya Jaki vs. Kouta – lightweight kickboxing
Yuma Yamahata vs. Sho Ogawa – 139-pound catchweight kickboxing
Kouzi vs. Genji Umeno – bantamweight kickboxing
Taiga vs. Ryo Takahashi – bantamweight kickboxing
Yuuki Kashihara vs. Motoki – bantamweight kickboxing
Sato Ryo vs. Shun – 132-pound catchweight kickboxing
Jin Mandokoro vs. Sato Syuto – 117-pound catchweight kickboxing