Rizin 15 fight roundup: Justin Scoggins replaces Ulka Sasaki, Wanderlei Silva’s protege debuts

Four new match-ups have been announced for Rizin 15 on April 21, including Justin Scoggins’ return to the Japanese ring in Yokohama.

Scoggins will replace fellow UFC veteran Ulka Sasaki against Kai Asakura in a bantamweight bout. According to the promotion, Sasaki was forced out of the card due to a visceral infection.

Scoggins will attempt to get back to the win column after losing to Yuki Motoya in one of the best submissions of the year in 2018. Prior to that, he lost three straight to Sasaki, Said Nurmagomedov and Pedro Munhoz in the UFC. Asakura is 12-1 as a professional with four wins under the Rizin banner.

”I should have already been scheduled on this card,” Scoggins stated. “I signed with Rizin to compete against the top martial artists and do it regularly. But, I’m happy to take the opportunity on short notice. The biggest factor in performing at this high level of competition is preparation. Fortunately I train consistently and have balanced out my nutrition well enough to stay close to fight weight. I fear no challenge, especially against a striker with sloppy technique.”

The other additions to the Rizin 15 card are the signing of Wanderlei Silva’s protege Christiano Frohlich (10-4), who meets Swedish light heavyweight Karl Albrektsson (8-2), and a pair of flyweight bouts, Kana Watanabe (6-0-1) vs. Justyna Haba (1-0) and Shinju Auclair (2-1) vs. Saray Orozco (3-2).

The complete Rizin 15 fight card can be seen below.

Kyoji Horiguchi vs Ben Nguyen
Muhammed Lawal vs Jiri Prochazka — for the light heavyweight title
Kai Asakura vs Justin Scoggins
Mikuru Asakura vs Luiz Gustavo
Damien Brown vs Koji Takeda
Satoru Kitaoka vs Roberto Souza
Manel Kape vs Seiichiro Ito
Karl Albrektsson vs Christiano Frohlich
Kana Watanabe vs Justyna Haba
Shinju Auclair vs Saray Orozco