UFC veteran Jose Torres will face Hiromasa Ougikubo in the opening round of the RIZIN flyweight grand prix on July 27, as part of the Super RIZIN 4 card in Saitama, Japan, featuring multiple matches including title bouts and grand prix events.
UFC veteran Jose Torres is set to clash with Hiromasa Ougikubo in the opening round of the RIZIN flyweight grand prix on July 27. The announcement came Thursday from the promotion.
The draw for the 125-pound tournament was streamed live from Japan. It unveiled five matches for the Super RIZIN 4 card in Saitama, Japan, later this month.
Torres (13-4-1) made a strong impression by defeating Makoto Shinryu in his RIZIN debut last year. Meanwhile, Ougikubo (27-8-2) seeks another tournament win after his 2021 RIZIN bantamweight grand prix success.
Alibek Gadzhammatov (5-0) is on a winning streak after knocking out Daichi Kitakata last November. He aims to continue his momentum against Takaki Soya (13-6-1), who recently defeated former UFC contender John Dodson.
Nkazimulo Zulu (16-7-1), who challenged Kyoji Horiguchi for the RIZIN belt in 2024, will face Yuki Ito (18-6). Makoto Shinryu (19-4-1, 1 no contest) is set to battle Erson Yamamoto (5-7).
The fifth match of the grand prix features Yuki Motoya (37-13) against Hiroya (11-13-1). Motoya, a seasoned RIZIN fighter, looks to add another win, while Hiroya seeks his third consecutive victory.
RIZIN also revealed the second round of the heavyweight grand prix. Former Bellator fighter Jose Augusto will take on Marek Samociuk, and Mikio Ueda will face Alexander Soldatkin, a veteran of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Super RIZIN 4 will happen at the Saitama Super Arena. Ex-champion Kleber Koike will rematch Mikuru Asakura in the main event. Unfortunately, Razhabali Shaidulloev won’t defend his featherweight title due to opponent availability issues.
Here’s the updated Super RIZIN 4 lineup:
– Kleber Koike vs. Mikuru Asakura
– Naoki Inoue vs. Ryuya Fukuda — for bantamweight title
– Seika Izawa vs. Yu Jin Shin — for atomweight title
– Masanori Kanehara vs. YA-MAN
– Patricky Pitbull vs. Shunta Nomura
– Ji Yong Yang vs. Tatsuya Ando
– Moeri Suda vs. Noel
– Makoto Shinryu vs. Erson Yamamoto — flyweight grand prix
– Alibek Gadzhammatov vs. Takaki Soya — flyweight grand prix
– Yuki Ito vs. Nkazimulo Zulu — flyweight grand prix
– Jose Torres vs. Hiromasa Ougikubo — flyweight grand prix
– Yuki Motoya vs. Hiroya — flyweight grand prix
– Jose Augusto vs. Marek Samociuk — heavyweight grand prix
– Mikio Ueda vs. Alexander Soldatkin — heavyweight grand prix
Exciting stuff, right? Can’t wait for the action!