When UFC veteran Damien Brown steps into the RIZIN ring with Daron Cruickshank at RIZIN 14 in Tokyo, Japan, on New Years Eve, he’ll be crossing an item off his bucket list.<\/p>\n
The Australian lightweight has long been interested in fighting for RIZIN in Japan, and on this card that also features massive names like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Tenshin Nasukawa, Kyoji Horiguchi, and Darrion Caldwell, the timing couldn’t be better.<\/p>\n
“It is incredible,” Brown said to BJPenn.com of this card. “I don\u2019t necessarily fight for the people that are watching. For me, the big thing was fighting for RIZIN and fighting in Japan. A lot of fighters at some point in their careers want to fight in Japan. It is sort of a bucket list thing. I was already excited to be fighting over there. Then, I saw the Mayweather thing and I was like ‘oh man there is gonna be so many eyes that would have never watched the show that will watch the show. Hopefully, they tune in at a point when my fight is on so I get a bit more exposure.’\u00a0<\/span>The guys that are on the card will now have eyes on them that would have never had eyes on them before. It is super exciting, RIZIN seems to be really bringing it with great cards.”<\/span><\/p>\n It is indeed a great card for Brown to make his RIZIN debut on, and he’s hoping to kickstart his multi-fight deal with the promotion with a big win.<\/p>\n Given that Cruickshank also used to fight in the UFC, Brown knows he could be in for a difficult fight. Yet he is confident that he can put on a show for the Japanese fans in attendance and the fans watching on screens around the world.<\/p>\n