By:  | October 24, 2022 6:52 pm

A Bellator vs. Rizin event will be held at the Saitama Super Arena on December 31st. The show will see fighters representing both promotions facing off against one another.

So far four fighters have been confirmed to represent Bellator. Kyoji Horiguchi is one of them, he previously held the bantamweight title with both promotions and made a successful return to Japan at Rizin 38.

Horiguchi (30-5) was able to fight out his Rizin contract and sign an exclusive deal with Bellator. But he lost two fights out of two for the promotion to slip out of title contention.

Horiguchi is coming off a comfortable win. He submitted Yuto Hokamura in the second round and the Japanese promotion will be looking to put forwards a slightly more suitable opponent for December 31st, with Kai Asakura a possible candidate.

Elite featherweight

Reigning Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire (34-5) will also be on the card. Rizin will need to find an elite 145lber to face him with newly crowned champion Koike Kleber a potential candidate.

Also representing Bellator will be AJ McKee (19-1). He can compete at featherweight or lightweight and is coming off a win over Spike Carlyle, a fighter who will be familiar to Japanese fans because he submitted Koji Takeda at Rizin 35.

The fourth fighter representing the American promotion on the card is Juan Archuleta (26-4). The Spaniard is a former Bellator bantamweight champion but his last fight took place at 141lbs.

Press conference

There is no word yet on which fighters will be representing Rizin but a press conference is scheduled for Wednesday with the first matchups likely to be announced.

Bellator / Rizin, Tokyo, December 31st
Patricio Freire vs. TBA
AJ McKee vs. TBA
Juan Archuleta vs. TBA
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. TBA