RIZIN announces heavyweight tournament bracket for Dec. 29

The new Japanese MMA promotion RIZIN announced the heavyweight tournament bracket for their Dec. 29 card on Monday. Winners from the tournament bracket on Dec. 29 will fight just two days later at the Dec. 31 semi-final and final portion of the tournament, where Fedor Emelianenko is also set to make his long-awaited return in a one match special bout.

Bouts for the heavyweight bracket announced include:

• King Mo vs. BAMMA Fighter (TBA)
• Teodoras Aukstolos vs. Bruno Cappelozza
• Satoshi Ishii vs. Jiri Prochazka
• Goran Reljic vs. Vadim Nemkov
• Valentin Moldavsky vs. Yuta Uchida (Reserve fight)

Other special one match bouts include:

• Kazushi Sakuraba vs Shinya Aoki
• Yuki Motoya vs Nam Jin Jo
• AJ Matthews vs Anatoly Tokov
• Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs James Thompson

Are you excited for the return of a Japanese MMA promotion? Do you think RIZIN will be able to bring back the feeling of watching PRIDE back in the day?

Share your thoughts on RIZIN in the comment section below!