John Dodson, Danny Sabatello Among Additions to Rizin 'Otoko Matsuri' on May 4

今日の会見で追加のワンマッチも4試合発表させていただきました！
どのカードも、男祭りに相応しいド派手な闘いが繰り広げられると思いますよ！
何れにしても今週末のRISEさんの大会とRIZIN香川大会の試合の結果も踏まえて、未来の相手と、更なる追加の対戦カードをマッチアップします！… https://t.co/aqpjhUvcwW pic.twitter.com/Non1oW40Qs

— 榊󠄀原信行 Nobuyuki Sakakibara (@nobu_sakakibara) March 26, 2025

Several new bouts have been announced for Rizin Fighting Federation’s upcoming event on May 4.

At flyweight, current BKFC champ and former UFC title challenger John Dodson will lock horns with Takaki Soya, while outspoken Bellator MMA veteran Danny Sabatello will face Shinobu Ota at bantamweight.

Rizin "Otoko Matsuri" takes place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo and features a featherweight title tilt pitting Kleber Koike Erbst against Rajababil Shaidullaev. The event will also include a heavyweight grand prix.

A handful of other bouts have been confirmed for the card: Hiroya Kondo vs. Tatsuki Shinotsuka at flyweight; Erson Yamamoto vs. Daichi Tomizawa at flyweight and Joe Hiramoto vs. Toki Tamaru at flyweight.

Dodson will be competing in MMA for the first time since December 2023, when he suffered a unanimous decision loss to Hiromasa Ougikubo at Rizin 45. More recently “The Magician” battled Dagoberto Aguero to a draw in a title bout at BKFC 59 before outpointing Soya in a bare knuckle bout at Super Rizin 3 last July.

Soya has lost his last two MMA bouts, including a first-round knockout loss to Ramazonbek Temirov at Rizin 44 in September 2023.

Sabatello has been victorious in just one of his last five fights. “The Italian Gangster” last appeared under the PFL banner, where he battled Lazaro Dayton to a majority draw last August.

Ota, meanwhile, had a three-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he suffered a third-round submission loss to Yuki Motoya at Rizin 48.Chihiro Suzuki vs Mikuru Asakura Kyohei Hagiwara vs Taisei Nishitani Makoto Takahashi vs Yuki Ito Ryo Takagi vs Kyoma Akimoto Taisei Sakuraba vs Daisuke Nakamura Takao Ueda vs Vinicius Tsuchihashi Silveira Tsuyoshi Kamiyama vs Unknown Fighter Baktybek uulu Islambek vs Unknown Fighter Marek Samociuk vs Daniel James Shoma Shibisai vs Mikio Ueda