Kai Asakura, Juan Archuleta Victorious at Rizin 42, Title Fight Targeted for July

In the co-main event, former Bellator title holder Archuleta (28-4, 2-0 Rizin) captured a three-round vedict against two-time UFC veteran Naoki Inoue (16-4, 6-2 Rizin). It was Archuleta’s third victory in a seventh-month span and second consecutive triumph under the Rizin banner. It was revealed during the event that Asakura vs. Archuleta is likely to happen in July.

After being outstruck by Inoue in the opening stanza, Archuleta got stronger as the bout progessed. He sat his adversary down with a right hand in Round 2 and ended the contest by threatening Inoue with an arm-triangle choke that might have forced a tapout were it not for the final bell.

In other action: reigning lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi de Souza (15-2, 8-2 Rizin) earned a unanimous verdict against Spike Carlyle (14-5, 1-1 Rizin) in a non-title bout; Ren Sugiyama (1-0, 1-0 Rizin) knocked out Kota Miura (2-1, 2-1 Rizin) with a knee and punches at the 3:13 mark of Round 1 in a featherweight tilt; former UFC flyweight contender John Dodson (24-13, 2-0 Rizin) outpointed Tatsuki Saomoto (18-3, 4-1 Rizin) at flyweight; Kazumasa Majima (15-4, 1-3 Rizin) used a shoulder choke to secure a technical submission victory over Takahiro Ashida (24-13-2, 2-3 Rizin) at featherweight; Yuta Sasaki (24-10-2, 3-4 Rizin) took a three-round verdict against Boyd Allen (16-6-1, 0-2 Rizin) at featherweight; Viktor Kolesnik (24-4-1, 1-0 Rizin) scored a leg-kick TKO against Atsushi Kishimoto (9-7-2, 1-1 Rizin) 2:57 into the second frame at lightweight; Erson Yamamoto (4-5, 3-5 Rizin) defeated Yuki Ito (13-5, 3-1 Rizin) via unanimous decision at flyweight; Takeji Yokoyama (5-0, 1-0 Rizin) submitted Takyua Yamamoto (8-3-1, 0-2 Rizin) with an armbar at the 1:24 mark of Round 1 and Ramazan Temirov (14-2-1, 1-0 Rizin) stopped Yuta Hamamoto (5-3, 0-1 Rizin) with punches 4:06 into the opening stanza of a 127-pound catchweight affair.