Bellator vs. Rizin historic card featuring A.J. McKee and Patricio Pitbull announced for New Year's Eve in Japan
The latest chapter in the recurring Bellator-Rizin cross-promotional event will go down on New Year's Eve in Japan. Patricio Pitbull, A.J. McKee, Juan Archuleta and Kyoji Horiguchi are all set to be part of the grand event.
The event was made official by both the organizations for Dec. 31. Each fight on the card will be a hotly contested fight between the best fighters in the respective promotions. Bellator CEO Scott Coker took to Twitter to announce the event and captioned the post:
"@BellatorMMA vs. @rizin_PR in 🇯🇵."
.@BellatorMMA vs. @rizin_PR in 🇯🇵 https://t.co/iEZ6qW7wLe
The event is scheduled to take place at the Saitama Super Arena. The main card will be available to viewers in the U.S. on Showtime. An initial press conference to spread the word will be held in Tokyo.
The fights will be contested inside Rizin’s ring instead of a cage. Former Bellator featherweight champion A.J. McKee is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Spike Carlyle at UFC 286. The fight marked a lightweight debut for the American after he dropped his featherweight crown to Patricio Pitbull at Bellator 277.
Patricio Pitbull defended his 145-pound strap on the same card against Adam Borics with a unanimous decision victory.
Patricio Pitbull is willing to step inside the boxing ring to face retired UFC fighter Jose Aldo
On September 18, 2022, the same day his son was born, former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo announced his retirement from MMA after a career that spanned over 18 years. The Brazilian had one fight remaining on his UFC contract but the company allowed him to pursue opportunities in other sports.
Watch Jose Aldo's highlight reel below:
Current Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull is intrigued by the potential of facing his Brazilian counterpart now that he might pursue other combat sports interests. As opposed to the UFC's lack of interest in indulging in cross-promotional events and allowing contracted fighters to chase opportunities outside the promotion, Bellator has allowed its fighters the opportunity whenever possible.
With that in mind, Patricio Pitbull told Ag Fight in a recent interview that he would be willing to step inside the squared circle to box Jose Aldo:
“I’m sure he’s headed to boxing, that’s obvious to me. He likes that sport a lot. Let’s see what happens. There’s room for everyone. He does his job, I do mine. Then, if it happens, it happens. I’ve been training in boxing with the Brazilian national team for 12 years now. I like boxing, too. It’s one of the arts we use in MMA that I like to practice the most. I’m open [to box Jose Aldo]. I’m in.”
Watch the full interview below:
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