RISE/M-1 Announce Event Featuring M. Yamamoto, Kamimura, Umeno, Komiyama

Friday, 19 October 2012 18:40

Written by Sam Sattler

RISE and M-1 Muay Thai Challenge have announced a co-promoted event that is set to take place on December 2nd called "Infinity" and it has one of the most star-studded lineups of the year.

While no matchups have been announced, let's take a look at who has been announced to participate at the event.

Masahiro Yamamoto: Along with being ranked #2 on the LiverKick Lightweight rankings, Yamamoto holds the It's Showtime -61kg title which he won earlier this year over Javier Hernandez.

Kosuke Komiyama: #10 LiverKick Lightweight, current RISE Super Featherweight champion and riding an 8-fight winstreak, most recently winning at Shootboxing Act.4.

Genji Umeno: Umeno holds the WPMF World Super Featherweight title, was recently ranked at Lumpini Stadium and was the #1 Featherweight in Japan after a win over Yosuke Morii last December. Umeno has moved up to Super Featherweight now, but most recently lost to Chang-Hyun Lee in K-1 at 61kg.

Erika Kamimura: At this time last year, the WMC and WPMF Women's Mini-Flyweight champion was an unstoppable force and thought to be the top female kickboxer. A close loss to RENA late last year and a close loss in the quarterfinals of this year's Girls S-Cup have slowed her hype train, but she is still an elite fighter. She won a rematch with Seo Hee Ham to earn a rematch with RENA for her RISE title, so I wouldn't be surprised if that fight happened at this event.

Koji Yoshimoto: Yoshimoto is the current RISE Super Lightweight champion and has won 3 in a row, most recently defending his title against Yasuomi Soda. I could see him defending his title here against Yukihiro Komiya.

Sun-Hyun Lee: The RISE Korea Welterweight champion is already scheduled to fight at RISE 90 against Shohei Asahara with a win likely getting him a title shot. However, Lee is teammates with Chang-Hyun Lee, with Chang-Hyun's nickname even being "Little Sun-Hyun Lee", who just defeated Genji Umeno in K-1, so I wouldn't be surprised if the two were to fight.

Yosuke Morii: Morii is coming off of a loss to Hiroki Akimoto at the beginning of this month, but is still the #3 Featherweight in Japan and the WPMF Japan champion at the weight. With Umeno's weight gain, I doubt the two will rematch, especially considering how one-sided the first fight was.

Yusuke Shimizu: The 21 year old former WPMF Japan Super Bantamweight champion looks to bounce back from his second pro loss this weekend. I'd like to see him take on the winner of Dyki vs. Takashi Ohno at RISE 90.

I assume that RISE and M-1 will be looking to match their fighters up against one another and should that be the case, the best option would obviously be Masahiro Yamamoto vs Kosuke Komiyama, as it pits #2 on the LiverKick rankings against #10, but other options like Sun-Hyun Lee vs Genji Umeno and Yosuke Morii vs the winner of the RISE Featherweight tournament are also possible and equally as enticing.

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