The Japanese love to go big with their combat sports on New Years Eve. When PRIDE FC was around, there were always epic match-ups between local stars like Kazushi Sakuraba and improbable villains like the “Johnny” from “The Karate Kid” or whatever South American dictator needed the cash.
Well, RIZIN in the current “major Japanese promotion du jour”, and they’ve signed none other than Floyd Mayweather. He will supposedly face Tenshin Nasukawa, a stud kickboxer.
No word yet on the rules, or really anything else pertaining to the bout. But you can at least expect Mayweather to be carried to the ring on a herd of tamed elephants.
Here’s ESPN:
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has made his New Year’s Eve plans official.
Mayweather will exit retirement once again and fight 20-year-old Japanese kickboxing phenom Tenshin Nasukawa on Dec. 31 at the 37,000-seat Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, about a half-hour drive outside of Tokyo.
Mayweather and Nasukawa appeared at a news conference in Tokyo on Monday (Sunday night United States time) that was streamed worldwide on YouTube to announce the fight with officials from the Rizin Fighting Federation, a Japanese promotional company founded in 2015 that puts on MMA and kickboxing events.