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Bellator MMA

Bellator and Rizin are set to usher in the new year with a bang. A Bellator vs. Rizin card is scheduled to close out 2022 in Japan's most iconic fight venue on New Year's Eve, Bellator MMA announced on Monday.

Fighters from the Bellator and Rizin rosters will compete against each other inside the 36,500-seat Saitama Super Arena on Saturday, Dec. 31. The two promotions have previously collaborated on events, but this marks the first time that top athletes from Bellator MMA and Rizin will compete against each other throughout an entire fight card.

Representing Bellator is featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull, former featherweight champion AJ McKee, and former bantamweight champions Juan Archuleta and Kyoji Horiguchi. Notably, Horiguchi is the reigning Rizin bantamweight champion. It is Horiguchi's second reign with the title dating back to Dec. 31, 2020.

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Four matches were announced at a special kick-off press conference on Wednesday at the Roppongi Hills Arena in Tokyo. Pitbull will take on Kleber Koike, McKee will battle Roberto Satoshi, Archuleta is set to face Soo Chul Kim and Horiguchi will face Hiromasha Ougikubo on the card, also named Rizin 40.

Koike (31-5-1) heads into the Pitbull fight as the newly crowned Rizin featherweight champion and hasn't lost since a 2018 decision to Mateusz Gamrot. Satoshi (14-1) is an IBJJF world champion and has submitted the likes of Johnny Case and Tofiq Musayev. Kim is the two-division ROAD FC champion and Ougikubo is the reigning Rizin Grand Prix winner.

One more fight is scheduled to be announced for the Bellator vs. Rizin main card. All fights will be contested under Rizin rules, which allow for soccer kicks and knees to a grounded opponent.