Star Japanese bantamweight champion Kai Asakura has announced on Sunday that he is leaving RIZIN for the UFC at a live event in Tokyo. The two time champion recently reclaimed the belt in December by defeating former Bellator MMA champion Juan Archuleta via TKO. Now he will depart for the UFC without making a defense.
????| RIZIN Bantamweight Champion Kai Asakura has vacated his title as he has signed with the UFC.
According to @AlexBehunin, the promotion are looking for a top 5 name at bantamweight to fight him on his debut.
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) June 9, 2024
The UFC has not yet made a formal announcement of the 30-year-old’s signing, but he is expected to quickly be a threat to the upper echelon of the UFC’s 135-pound weight class, which currently is ruled by Sean O’Malley.
Asakura first won the Rizin bantamweight title in August 2020 when he knocked out Hiromasa Ougikubo. He lost the belt the same year in a rematch against Kyoji Horiguchi. It took him three years, and a run of 5-1, to win the title back, but he won’t defend it ahead of his move to the UFC. He’s no stranger to UFC level competition so the transition should be seamless.
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
