RIZIN.17 confirmed to air on FITETV

With RIZIN’s summer fiesta RIZIN.17 being 2 weeks away, RIZIN CEO Nobuyuki  Sakakibara held a press conference to promote the Summer event. Yusuke Yachi, Mikuru Asakura, Yuki Motoya, Hiromasa Ogikubo, Shintaro Ishiwatari, Satoru Kitaoka, Tatsuya Kawajiri, KING Reina, Tomo Maesawa, Taiga, Hikaru Machida all attended.

It was also announced that Kevin Ross has been forced to withdraw due to a hand injury which occurred during practice. Hard hitting RISE ranker HIDEKI (15-5-2) will be taking the 3 week notice fight against Daiki Watabe (22-23-2).

Doors open at 12:30PM with Opening Ceremony at 2:00PM on Sunday July 28th at the Saitama Super Arena. International tickets can be purchased at www.stubhub.com. International streaming will be provided on FightBookMMA on the FITE.TV Network.

Fighter quotes

Yusuke Yachi
“I believe that I have expressed my thoughts enough with interviews and videos. So I don’t have anything to say.”

Mikuru Asakura
“My opponent is already making all sorts of excuses, but he’s a winner. The moment he  found out he’s fighting me, he’s getting all sorts of exposure and coverage. Come watch the fight and I promise you that you won’t be disappointed.”

Yuki Motoya
“RIZIN PR team gave me a speech to memorize, but I forgot everything and also lost the memo. Ogikubo, let’s put on a good fight.”

Hiromasa Ogikubo
“I think Motoya is a worthy opponent to put everything in to fight against. He is truly a  talented fighter and I promise you that we will show a great fans. Your money will not be wasted. Please come watch us fight LIVE at the Saitama Super Arena.”

Shintaro Ishiwatari
“I am not a man of too many words, but results will speak everything I have to say. He says he will use me, but I know there is huge difference in skills. I plan to prove that.”

Ulka Sasaki
“Ishiwatari, thank you very much for honoring our promise from 5 years ago. As it says on the poster, nothing will happen until I beat you, I am going to utilize this opportunity to take my career to the next step after beating you.”

Satoru Kitaoka
“I have many things I want to say, but I choose not to say it here.”

Tatsuya Kawajiri
“My performance on NYE was pathetic. I’ve thought about calling quits, but the good thing about me is that I’m a sore loser. I’ve changed everything up in my training and I feel great. I think I will be stepping in the ring in the best condition. But at the end of the day it’s the heart that matters. I ask all of the fans to come support me and give me and all the fighters strength and courage.”

KING Reina
“I will be fighting another foreigner. I think she has good ground. But it won’t matter I’m going to smash her.”

Tomo Maesawa
“I want to show that women can put on as exciting performances like men do. I recently broke up with my boyfriend after fighting Mina Kurobe.”

Taiga
“I have yet to put on a satisfying performance in RIZIN so I plan to finally put on a fight where everybody will be happy.”

Hikaru Machida
“I am the Iai punch specialist. I put everything behind my punch and will land it on my  opponent. Taiga is my opponent, but I will be taking on everybody to show that my Iai style works. This is what I have lived for.”

HIDEKI
“This is the perfect platform to make a name for myself so I plan to put on an exciting fight to get myself noticed!! And I would like to be remembered by the fans to show the greatness of RISE. Watabe is a fight of the night candidate so I want to put on a great fight against him and get the win.”

Confirmed fights:
Yusuke Yachi vs Mikuru Asakura
Yuki Motoya vs Hiromasa Ogikubo
Shintaro Ishiwatari vs Ulka Sasaki
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs Ali AbdulKhalikov
Satoru Kitaoka vs Johnny Case
Roberto de Souza vs Mizuto Hirota
Seo Hee Ham vs Tomo Maesawa
Jake Heun vs Vitaly Shemetov
Ivan Shtyrkov vs Kim Hoon
King Reina vs Stephanie Egger
Kevin Ross vs Daiki Watabe (Kickboxing)
Taiga vs Hikari Machida (Kickboing)

FightBookMMA

Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.