RIZIN lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi will return to the ring at the RIZIN 42 card on May 5, the company announced Monday. John Dodson and Juan Archuleta will be joining the line-up, as well Kai Asakura.
Satoshi lost in a fight against Bellator’s A.J. McKee, who lost a decision to A.J. Bellator in December’s non-title clash, will face Spike Carlyle, a UFC veteran, in a nonchampionship fight at Tokyo Ariake Arena, Tokyo, Japan. Carlyle, who also lost to McKe in his most recent fight and went 1-2 under the UFC banner, tapped Koji Takeda in his sole RIZIN contest.
The promotion also revealed the opponent for Archuleta, announcing that the former Bellator bantamweight champion will fly back to Japan to fight Naoki Inoue. Archuleta won a split victory over Soo Chul Kim in the Bellator-RIZIN five-fight challenge. Inoue, who had a short run in the UFC between 2017 and 2018, stopped Kenta Takizawa on the same night.
Dodson will re-enter the RIZIN ring after another victorious stop in the bare-knuckle world, knocking out Jarod Grant in under two minutes this past February. Hideo Tokoro was defeated by Dodson via first round knockout during his RIZIN debut. Tatsuki Saomoto, his opponent, is riding a 14-fight winning streak dating back to 2016.
Asakura, a former 135-pound champion in RIZIN, is slated to meet Yuki Motoya. Asakura will try to rebound from losing a decision to Hiromasa Ougikubo in the one-night bantamweight in December 2021, while Motoya looks to go 6-0 in just over two years, having stopped UFC veteran Rogerio Bontorin in his most recent showing.
Check the complete RIZIN 42 card below.
Kai Asakura vs. Yuki Motoya
Naoki Inoue vs. Juan Archuleta
Roberto Satoshi vs. Spike Carlyle
Seika Izawa vs. Miyu Yamamoto
Kouta Miura vs. YA-MAN — custom rules
Yuryuka Sasaki vs. Boyd Allen
John Dodson vs. Kiyo Saomoto
Takashi Soya vs. Ramazan Temirov
Hiroki Ito vs. Arsen Yamamoto
Takuya Yamamoto vs. Takeshi Yokoyama
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/3/6/23627006/rizin-42-full-card-champion-roberto-satoshi-john-dodson?rand=96749
