At the time, Castillo was the ranked fifth in the world among bantamweights. During Rizin 10, Asakura faced one of the world's foremost bantamweights, Manel Kape. In his career, Curtin would box most of the great bantamweights of his era. On August 15, 2015 Soto competed in Eddie Bravo Invitational 4 (The Bantamweights). Goldberg was ranked third in the world among Bantamweights prior to the bout. Two years earlier, Martin had been rated fifth in the world among bantamweights.