Two more fights have been added to the Rizin year end events as Gabi Garcia faces 53 year old former pro wrestler Shinobu Kandori at Rizin 8 and Takanori Gomi faces Yusuke Yachi at Rizin 9.
Garcia (4-0-0-1NC) is competing for the first time since a no contest against Oksana Gagloeva at Rizin World Bantamweight Grand Prix 2017 in July 2017. Garcia already competed against one 50-plus year old former pro wrestler, defeating Yumiko Hotta at Rizin 4.
Kandori (4-1-0) is competing for the first time in over seventeen years and all of her previous MMA fights ended within the opening round. Kandori made it to the finals of the LLPW Ultimate L-1 Tournament in 2000, losing to Svetlana Goundarenko in those finals.
Gomi (35-14-0-1NC) competes for the first time since getting released by the UFC, which came after a loss to Dong Hyun Kim at UFC Fight Night Japan. Gomi hasn’t earned a victory in almost four years and that last win came over Isaac Vallie-Flagg at UFC 172.
Yachi (18-6-0) is currently undefeated under the Rizin banner and that includes a win over UFC veteran Daron Cruickshank at Rizin 5. Yachi has previously challenged for the Pacific Xtreme Combat Lightweight Title, losing to UFC veteran Alexander Volkanovski at PXC 50.
Rizin 8 takes place on Friday, December 9 from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan with Ian McCall and Manel Kape headlining. Rizin 9 takes place on Sunday, December 31 from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan with no main event announced at this time. Fightful is providing live coverage of the events, which streams live on Fite TV.
