Kawajiri-Gracie, ‘Krazy Horse’-Kimura 2 Booked for Rizin FF’s New Year’s Eve Event

Rizin Fighting Federation announced a pair of new matchups for its New Year’s Eve event, as Tatsuya Kawajiri with face Kron Gracie at featherweight, while Charles Bennett will rematch Minoru Kimura in a catch-weight affair (online betting).

Rizin 4 takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama Japan and also includes the final round of the promotion’s Open-Weight Grand Prix Tournament. Rizin FF Chairman Nobuyuki Sakakibara also announced that the quarterfinal pairings for the fighters in the bracket will be revealed next week.

Kawajiri, 38, parted ways with the UFC following consecutive losses to Cub Swanson and Dennis Bermudez earlier this year. “Crusher” went 3-2 during his stint with the Las Vegas-based organization and is 35-10-2 as a professional overall.

The son of Rickson Gracie, Kron Gracie is unbeaten in three professional outings, with all of his triumphs coming via first-round submission. Most recently, he tapped out Hideo Tokoro with a rear-naked choke at Rizin 2 on Sept. 25.

Bennett and Kimura initially squared off at Rizin 2, where “Krazy Horse” won via technical knockout in seven seconds. The bout marked the professional debut for Kimura. Bennett, meanwhile, has 62 documented fights on his ledger.