Rizin Fighting Federation has announced that the open weight tournament starting September 5 will feature legendary UFC fighter Wanderlei Sila and legendary fighter Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic who will come out of retirement to fight in the 16-man open weight Grand Prix in Tokyo on September 25 together with another legendary fighter Wanderlei Silva.
Rizin FF (Fighting Federation) is a Japanese regional mixed martial arts organization that was created in 2015 by former Pride Fighting Championship president Nobuyuki Sakakibara.
In a press release, PRIDE legendary fighter Mirko Filipovic who has an MMA record of 31-11-1, 1 NC, Kicboxing record of 23-8, 12KOs will be competing to headline the event. Alongside him will be Wanderlei Silva (35-12-1, 1 NC) who is a superstar Brazilian-American fighter competing in various organizations most notably the biggest UFC competition. Wanderlei Silva will have a bye in the first stage and will automatically advance to the tournament’s second or quarterfinal stage.
Mirko 'Cro Cop,' Wanderlei Silva announced for RIZIN open-weight grand prix https://t.co/FCNGWdDmb2
— MMAjunkie (@MMAjunkie) July 16, 2016
Notable fighters in the event include Kazuyiki Fujita (15-11) of Funabashi, Chiba, Japan and Baruto Kaito (1-0) of Estonia who is a former sumo wrestling champion turned MMA upstart. Fujita and Kaito will be battling in the first stage of the tournament.
In their press release they also noted upcoming single fights most notably:
On September 25 striking sensations Daron Cruickshank (record: 17-8, 1 NC) and Andy Souwer (record: MMA: 1-0, Kickboxing: 159-19, 98 KO’s) – will fight in the lightweight (155lbs) division.
Cruickshank of Wayne, Michigan has fought 13 times in the the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and had a successful Rizin FF debut on April 17 where he scored a 1st round (4:36) TKO with against Shinji Sasaki.
In the women’s light heavyweight is nine-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt champion Gabi Garcia (record: 2-0) against three-time junior Olympic wrestling medalist and undefeated flyweight (125 pounds) Kanako Murata (3-0) of Ehime, Japan.
