Dan Henderon was set to take part in a grappling match against Japanese MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba later this month at Rizin: Aki No Jin.
However, the retired UFC star has suffered a neck injury and has been pulled from the card. In his place is going to be former UFC champion and longtime MMA veteran Frank Shamrock.
Shamrock did call out Sakuraba many years ago at a PRIDE event for the two to clash in an MMA fight, but now they will settle things in the grappling spectrum.
Sakuraba has competed twice before in grappling matches under the Rizin banner, one came against Renzo Gracie, while he teamed with Hideo Tokoro against Wanderlei Silva and Kiyoshi Tamura in a tandem grappling match.
The returning Shamrock’s last grappling match came over twenty years ago, when he submitted Dan Henderson with a rear naked choke.
There is a special rule set for the upcoming grappling conquest, which is a 15minute time limit with no points system. That means that if nobody is submitted within those 15 minutes, the fight is automatically deemed a draw.
Rizin: Aki Ni Jin takes place on Sunday, October 15 from the Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan with Rena Kubota and Andy Nguyen headlining. Fightful will provide quick results of the event, which streams live on Fite TV.
