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Kai Asakura and Juan Archuleta scored big wins at the RIZIN 42 card Saturday morning in Saitama, Japan, and will now collide for the vacant bantamweight title.
Asakura, a former 135-pound champion in RIZIN, secured a vicious third-round knockout over Yuki Motoya in the main event, folding him with a brutal knee to the body to put an end to his opponent’s five-fight winning streak.
Watch the finish below.
A big knee to the body gets Kai Asakura the finish, and he will meet Juan Archuleta for the vacant Bantamweight title!
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) May 6, 2023
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Archuleta, who once held the Bellator bantamweight gold, scored his third victory in a span of seven months with a decision over Naoki Inoue. “Spaniard” had already won in Japan back in December, defeating Soo Chul Kim via split decision on the special Bellator vs. RIZIN card.
The promotion revealed that Asakura vs. Archuleta is targeted for July.
A preview of July's Bantamweight title fight between Archuleta and Asakura
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) May 6, 2023
[ #RIZIN42 | @FiteTV | Link in bio ] pic.twitter.com/RFU7KgUUHW
RIZIN’s lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi also competed on the card but his title was not on the line for his clash with Spike Carlyle. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace came close to finishing Carlyle on multiple occasions on the ground, but went the distance to win an unanimous decision.
Incredible scrambles early in this non-title bout!
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) May 6, 2023
[ #RIZIN42 | @FiteTV | Link in bio ] pic.twitter.com/H0Nq4nphAM
How did he get out of that?!
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) May 6, 2023
[ #RIZIN42 | @FiteTV | Link in bio ] pic.twitter.com/sIxLEfmtK9
A hard fought 15-minutes sees Roberto Satoshi Souza walk away with a unanimous decision victory!
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) May 6, 2023
[ #RIZIN42 | @FiteTV | Link in bio ] pic.twitter.com/nmgm4T48P6
The early portion of the show featured UFC veteran John Dodson winning a decision and wild finishes from Ya-Man and Kazumasa Majima, displaying violent ground and pound attack and a Von Flue choke, respectively. Check the finishing sequences below, and the complete RIZIN 42 results.
YA-MAN gets the finish against Kota Miura!
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) May 6, 2023
[ #RIZIN42 | @FiteTV | Link in bio ] pic.twitter.com/h4xd4Eeijq
Kazumasa Majima scores his FIRST win in RIZIN with a Von Flue choke - the third in RIZIN history!
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) May 6, 2023
[ #RIZIN42 | @FiteTV | Link in bio ] pic.twitter.com/lWx0dqeTDL
Kai Asakura def. Yuki Motoya via KO — Round 3, 2:25
Juan Archuleta def. Naoki Inoue via unanimous decision
Roberto Satoshi def. Spike Carlyle via unanimous decision
Ya-Man def. Kota Miura via KO — Round 1, 3:13
John Dodson def. Kiyo Saomoto via unanimous decision
Kazumasa Majima def. Takahiro Ahida vía technical submission (Von Flue choke) — Round 1, 4:43
Yuta Sasaki def. Boyd Allen via unanimous decision
Viktor Kolesnik def. Atsushi Kishimoto via TKO — Round 2, 2:57
Erson Yamamoto def. Yuki Ito via unanimous decision
Takeshi Yokoyama def. Takuya Yamamoto via submission (armbar) — Round 1, 1:24
Ramazan Temirov def. Yuta Hamamoto via TKO — Round 1, 4:06
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