After completing the first stage of the event on the 28th of December, the Rizin Fightin Federation, or “new Pride”, will have its second show NYE December 31st.
In addition to the return of the legendary Fedor Emelianenko against the rookie Jaideep Singh in the main event, and the rematch between Bob Sapp and Akebono Taro, two other fights that promise to raise the roof of the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo are the MMA debut of Gabi Garcia in MMA and Kron Gracie’s second MMA fight.
Kron will face 19-year-old Asen Yamamoto, the nephew of Japanese MMA fighter Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. The fight will be at 145 lbs.
Gracie made his MMA debut last December in Tokyo, and he won by arm bar in under 65 seconds against Korea’s Hyung Soo Kim. The fight was at 160 lbs.
10 x Jiu-Jitsu world champion Gabi Garcia will make her pro MMA debut against Pro Wrestler from TNA Knockout.
Gabi Garcia has been training at Kings MMA under Rafael Cordeiro, and trains with a great team: Fabricio Werdum, Renato Babalu Sobral, and Mauricio Shogun.
Tapa has been training at American Top Team with UFC fighter Amanda Nunes. Tapa is a two-stripe blue belt BJJ and competed at the Atlanta IBJJF Open International Championship this year where she won double gold.
This morning, the weigh in was carried out for the event, and from seeing their reactions, both BJJ players were calm but ready to explode. Tapa got in Gabi’s face and had some words ( 44min44s in the video) and Kron had to push the lively Yamamoto away ( on 47min23s).
