UFC veteran Jose Torres will face Hiromasa Ougikubo in the opening round of the RIZIN flyweight grand prix on July 27, the promotion announced Thursday.
The draw for the 125-pound tournament was streamed live from Japan and unveiled the five matches that will be featured on the Super RIZIN 4 card in Saitama, Japan, later this month.
Torres (13-4-1) beat Makoto Shinryu in his RIZIN debut late last year, while Ougikubo (27-8-2) looks for another tournament championship after dominating the RIZIN bantamweight grand prix in 2021 with wins over Naoki Inoue and Kai Asakura.
Alibek Gadzhammatov (5-0) is on a roll after knocking out Daichi Kitakata in his promotional debut this past November and hopes to keep the momentum going when he faces Takaki Soya (13-6-1), who captured a decision victory over former UFC title contender John Dodson in his most recent appearance.
Nkazimulo Zulu (16-7-1), who challenged Kyoji Horiguchi for the RIZIN belt in 2024, will meet Yuki Ito (18-6) to advance in the tournament. Fellow ex-title contender Makoto Shinryu (19-4-1, 1 no contest) will face Erson Yamamoto (5-7).
The fifth match announced for the grand prix puts Yuki Motoya (37-13) against Hiroya (11-13-1). Motoya is one of the most experienced fighters on the field with more than 20 appearances in RIZIN, while Hiroya looks for his third victory in a row.
RIZIN also revealed the second round of the heavyweight grand prix with former Bellator fighter Jose Augusto taking on Marek Samociuk, while Mikio Ueda battles Dana White’s Contender Series veteran Alexander Soldatkin.
Super RIZIN 4 will take place at the Saitama Super Arena with ex-champion Kleber Koike rematching Mikuru Asakura in the main event. Razhabali Shaidulloev was expected to defend his featherweight title on the card, but the promotion was “unable to secure an opponent in time for a title bout.”
Check the updated Super RIZIN 4 lineup below.
Kleber Koike vs. Mikuru Asakura
Naoki Inoue vs. Ryuya Fukuda — for bantamweight title
Seika Izawa vs. Yu Jin Shin — for atomweight title
Masanori Kanehara vs. YA-MAN
Patricky Pitbull vs. Shunta Nomura
Ji Yong Yang vs. Tatsuya Ando
Moeri Suda vs. Noel
Makoto Shinryu vs. Erson Yamamoto — flyweight grand prix
Alibek Gadzhammatov vs. Takaki Soya — flyweight grand prix
Yuki Ito vs. Nkazimulo Zulu — flyweight grand prix
Jose Torres vs. Hiromasa Ougikubo — flyweight grand prix
Yuki Motoya vs. Hiroya — flyweight grand prix
Jose Augusto vs. Marek Samociuk — heavyweight grand prix
Mikio Ueda vs. Alexander Soldatkin — heavyweight grand prix
