Rizin star and bantamweight champion Kai Asakura has been signed by the UFC.
The former champion announced this on the Rizin 47 Broadcast and reiterated it in a Tweet. Kai announced he will vacate his title and will aim to become UFC bantamweight champion. Kai is a nice addition to the already stacked bantamweight division and his journey should be fun to watch.
Kai Asakura Signs With The UFC
As already mentioned Kai Asakura was the Rizin bantamweight king however there is more to him than that. Kai has spent most of his career in Rizin making a name for himself amongst enjoyers of regional promotions. He has attained a impressive record of 21 wins and 4 losses with 13 wins by KO. Of those wins and losses there are some notable names you many recognise.
Asakura holds notable wins over Kyoji Horiguchi and Manel Kape. He defeated Kape by split decision in 2018 and Horiguchi by round 1 KO in 2019. However, Kape avenged the loss in 2019 by round 2 KO and Horiguchi beat Kai in 2020 by round 1 KO. So he has exchanged wins and losses with big names.
This isn’t the first time promotions have taken talent from Rizin. There is Manel Kape currently in the top 10 in the UFC at flyweight. Another UFC example is former Rizin and UFC 205 king Jiri Prochazka, ranked number 1 at 205. Outside the UFC there is Vadim Nemkov who also fought for Rizin having a great fight against Jiri and was 205 champ. Nemkov was picked up by Bellator becoming the 205 champ and now is fighting for PFL at heavyweight.
Don’t underestimate Asakura as Rizin has a pretty good track record when it comes to fighters who are signed by other promotions. Also, Asakura in his own right is a very skilled and dangerous striker. His path will be interesting and how the UFC handle his career is speculated. The closest reference for a similair situation is Jiri a former Rizin champ who was fast tracked to the top immediately being thrown in at the deep end. So perhaps the same will happen to Asakura and we will se if he sinks or swims.