Ryan Bader and Danny Sabatello will compete for gold at RIZIN’s final card of the year on Dec. 31, the promotion announced Wednesday. The event will take place at the iconic Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Bader, a former two-division champion in Bellator and longtime veteran of the UFC who recently starred on the Mark Kerr film alongside The Rock, will make his promotional debut against heavyweight tournament winner Aleksandr Soldatkin for the inaugural title.
One-time Dana White’s Contender Series alumni Soldatkin won three straight inside the RIZIN ring as part of the heavyweight grand prix, beating Marek Samociuk via decision in the final this past September to earn the spot on the championship bout.
Bader, on the other hand, hasn’t competed since his sole PFL appearance, a knockout loss to Renan Ferreira in February 2024. The defeat snapped Bader’s three-fight heavyweight reign in Bellator with victories over Fedor Emelianenko, Cheick Kongo and Valentin Moldavsky.
Naoki Inoue, who puts his bantamweight title on the line against Sabatello, captured the vacant belt in 2024 with a first-round finish over Soo Chul Kim and has since defended it against Yuki Motoya and Ryuya Fukuda. Sabatello, a one-time Bellator title contender, gets his crack at the gold following RIZIN wins over Shinobu Ota and Shoko Sato.
RIZIN’s final card of the year will be also feature Japanese superstar Mikuru Asakura challenging featherweight titleholder Razhabali Shaidulloev, Roberto Satoshi defending his lightweight throne opposite Shunta Nomura, super atomweight queen Seika Izawa’s highly anticipated clash with Rena Kubota, and a battle between Hiromasa Ougikubo and Yuki Motoya for the vacant flyweight belt.
Check the current fight card below.
- Razhabali Shaidulloev vs. Mikuru Asakura — featherweight title
- Roberto Satoshi vs. Shunta Nomura — lightweight title
- Naoki Inoue vs. Danny Sabatello — bantamweight title
- Hiromasa Ougikubo vs. Yuki Motoya — flyweight title
- Seika Izawa vs. Rena Kubota — super atomweight title
- Aleksandr Soldatkin vs. Ryan Bader — heavyweight title
- Yutaka Sato vs. Ya-Man
Love the NYE Rizing shows! Very much looking forward to this one too
Rena is so hot
Great card so far.
Dats Ryte @Soup is A Big Rizin Fan
So in!!!
Former Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader won’t be making his RIZIN debut as scheduled on New Year’s Eve.
The 42-year-old veteran, who signed with the Japanese based promotion after asking for his release from PFL, revealed that he suffered a litany of injuries in training camp that’s going to require him to undergo surgery. Bader was originally slated to face Alexander Soldatkin on the annual RIZIN New Year’s Eve card but now he’ll have to rest and recover before potentially plotting his return in 2026.
“Bad news guys sorry…I’m out of the Rizin NYE championship fight unfortunately,” Bader wrote on Instagram. “Sustained a pretty gnarly injury last week and was trying everything we could to get to the fight. MRI results came back and spoke to the doc and surgery is definitely needed. Headed to get surgery early next week to get on the better side of this.
@Captain_Kaboom Bader 102.7 CYA
Unfortunate.
Was rooting for the German lol
No more Tenshin ever?
Would not be surprised if HOLLYWOOD gets their hooks into our boy Ryan B. following his breakout performance in The Smashing Machine.
Let’s be real, he would have been way better as the lead in the Running Man remake.