Kai Asakura is a Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter.
Late Saturday night (June 8, 2024), during the RIZIN 47 broadcast, former PRIDE head honcho and current RIZIN President Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced that his Bantamweight champion, Asakura, has relinquished his title and will be departing for UFC.
MMAMania.com can confirm that UFC is looking for a top-five matchup for the Japanese fighter.
Asakura, 30, had an incredible career in RIZIN, going 13-3 and winning the Bantamweight championship twice. The Japanese fighter has a 76% finish rate with 13 knockouts. He has knockout wins over Bellator fighters Kyoji Horiguchi and Juan Archuleta. He holds a victory over current UFC Flyweight title contender Manel Kape.
His three RIZIN losses were to Horiguchi, Kape, and Hiromasa Ougikubo.
Asakura’s addition to UFC’s Bantamweight division is huge and opens up many fun matchups.
UFC has lacked Japanese fighters in its promotion for several years (except for Tatsuro Taira, who will headline UFC Vegas 93 next week), so Asakura is much needed.