Long-running mixed martial arts promotion Pancrase is preparing to bring the curtain down on its 2026 calendar in high-stakes fashion, announcing a blockbuster year-end event featuring a trio of championship bouts. Pancrase 369 is officially scheduled for Sunday, December 20, taking over the Tachikawa Stage Garden in Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan.
The blockbuster card combines newly confirmed championship clashes in the lightweight and flyweight divisions alongside a previously finalized featherweight title unification bout. As the promotion looks back on a competitive year of martial arts action, the December showcase offers rising contenders a chance at glory, seasoned champions a platform to cement their legacies, and elite fighters an opportunity to bounce back from recent adversity on the grandest stage of the organization’s schedule.
In the lightweight division, newly crowned champion Rafael Barbosa will put his belt on the line against top-ranked challenger Daichi Kamiya. The matchup represents a fascinating clash of styles between a proven, well-rounded finisher who has carved a rapid path through the promotion and an ambitious challenger who has yet to taste defeat inside the Pancrase cage.
Barbosa enters the bout holding a formidable 17-5 professional record. The Brazilian standout made waves when he arrived in the promotion in March 2025, immediately announcing his presence by securing submission victories over Yusuke Kasuya and Yuto Suzuki via chokes. He maintained that momentum this past March, demonstrating the depth of his skill set by using his striking to defeat Yanbo Tatsuya Saiga. That victory earned him the distinction of becoming the promotion’s 10th lightweight champion. Representing CMMA, Barbosa boasts six career knockout victories and six submission wins, a balanced record built upon a diverse martial arts foundation rooted in Shotokan karate and Brazilian jiu-在他的 jiu-jitsu.
Standing across the canvas from him will be Kamiya, who brings a distinct stylistic puzzle to solve. Boasting a 9-1 record with one no-contest, the BRAVE GYM representative is completely unbeaten in eight Pancrase appearances. Unlike Barbosa’s striking and submission heavy-handedness, Kamiya relies heavily on judo-based throws, excellent body control, and a relentless ability to work through chaotic scrambles. He punched his ticket to this championship opportunity back in June, delivering a decisive performance by stopping Kasuya with ground-and-pound strikes in a high-stakes title eliminator. Now, Kamiya faces the ultimate test of turning his flawless promotional run into an undisputed championship reign.
The championship action continues further down the weight classes with an intriguing flyweight title fight. Undefeated champion Ryusei Tokida is set to make the very first defense of his career against former titleholder and division veteran Satoru.
Tokida, sporting a pristine 5-0 professional record, captured the vacant flyweight championship by defeating Hiroto Kishida at a May event held in the exact same city of Tachikawa. Fighting out of the GOMOTAS representative camp, Tokida has built his early career success around elite-level wrestling, superior scrambling ability, and raw physical strength. However, defending a championship belt often proves harder than winning it, and his next opponent knows that path intimately, having already occupied the very position Tokida is now fighting to protect.
Satoru, recognized as the promotion’s seventh flyweight champion, enters the bout holding the division’s No. 1 ranking and an 11-6 career record. The veteran fighter has proven he can deliver spectacular moments on demand; back in March, he stopped Tomoki Otsuka with a dynamic spinning back kick followed by decisive ground-and-pound. He followed up that impressive showing by defeating Genta Shindo in a September 6 title eliminator, securing his redemption arc and earning another shot at reclaiming the belt he once held.
Meanwhile, the featherweight division will finally answer lingering questions at the top of the weight class through a title unification bout that pits reigning champion Yuito Yanagawa against undefeated interim champion Otabek Rajabov.
Yanagawa’s journey to the championship has been defined by dramatic life changes and high-level perseverance. He famously left his job as a firefighter in 2025 to dedicate himself entirely to professional mixed martial arts. The gamble paid off swiftly when the 2023 Neo Blood Tournament featherweight winner captured the vacant championship that December by landing a devastating right straight that knocked out Kalybek Arzykul Uulu.
His momentum hit a temporary roadblock in May during an appearance in the highly competitive Road to UFC tournament, where he suffered a knockout loss to George Mangos. Nevertheless, Yanagawa returns to the Pancrase cage with an 8-2 record, armed with a golden opportunity to rebound from defeat and decisively settle the division’s tangled championship picture in a single night of work.
He will have to get past Rajabov to do so. Representing Tajikistan’s TAJMMAF GYM, Rajabov brings an unblemished 6-0 professional record into hostile Japanese territory. He stamped his claim to the division’s elite in June by submitting Shousuke Kinoshita with a tight triangle choke to claim the interim championship. Rajabov’s combat sports credentials extend far beyond the Pancrase cage, having notably earned an MMA gold medal for Tajikistan at the Asian Games held in Aichi last September.
For Yanagawa, the bout is a chance to regain his momentum and reassert his dominance. For Rajabov, it represents the final step in replacing his interim status with the undisputed Pancrase championship.
Pancrase 369 doors are scheduled to open at 1:00 p.m. Japan Standard Time, with the opening bell for the event slated for 1:30 p.m. JST. For fans wishing to tune in from home, U-NEXT will carry the event via an exclusive broadcast within Japan, while UFC Fight Pass will provide international coverage for viewers around the globe. Specific individual broadcast start times for the preliminary and main card segments have not yet been announced by the promotion.
For those planning to attend the event live at the Tachikawa Stage Garden, fan club ticket presales are set to begin on November 13, followed immediately by general ticket sales on November 14 through MORE TIGET. Ticket pricing has been tiered to accommodate fans, with SS seats priced at ¥30,000, A seats available for ¥13,000, and B seats offered at ¥9,500.
