Bellator MMA x Rizin 2 and Super Rizin 2 is a mixed martial arts event being co-promoted by Bellator MMA and the Rizin Fighting Federation that will take place on July 30, 2023, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.Fight Card
Part 1: Bellator MMA x Rizin 2 (Showtime)Lightweight Patricky Pitbull vs. Roberto de Souza Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix QuarterfinalFlyweight Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Makoto Takahashi Inaugural Bellator Flyweight ChampionshipWomen's Flyweight Kana Watanabe vs. Veta Arteaga
Bantamweight Magomed Magomedov vs. Danny Sabatello
Welterweight Andrey Koreshkov vs. Lorenz Larkin Part 2: Super Rizin 2 (FiteTV PPV)Featherweight Mikuru Asakura vs. Vugar Keramov Vacant Rizin Featherweight ChampionshipBantamweight Juan Archuleta vs. Hiromasa Ougikubo Vacant Rizin Bantamweight ChampionshipSuper Atomweight Seika Izawa (c) vs. Claire Lopez Rizin Women's Super Atomweight ChampionshipIntermissionCatchweight (154 lb) Patrício Pitbull vs. Chihiro Suzuki
Lightweight Tofiq Musayev vs. Akira Okada
Bantamweight Kenta Takizawa lvs. Shinobu Ota
Middleweight Daichi Abe vs. Igor Tanabe
Catchweight (128 lb) Yuki Ito vs. Hiroya KondoBackgroundThe event will mark the second co-promotion between Bellator MMA and the Rizin Fighting Federation, and Bellator's third visit to Saitama; following Bellator MMA vs. Rizin in December 2022, and Bellator 237 on December 29, 2019.
A Bellator Lightweight World Grand Prix quarterfinal bout between former Bellator Featherweight Champion A. J. McKee and former Bellator Lightweight Champion Patricky Pitbull was scheduled to headline the event. However, on July 26, it was announced McKee had pulled out of the bout due to an injury. Freire will instead face RIZIN lighweight champion Roberto de Souza.
For the co-main event, an inaugural Bellator Flyweight Championship bout between former Bellator Bantamweight Champion Kyoji Horiguchi (also former two-time Rizin Bantamweight Champion) and Makoto Shinryu is scheduled to take place. If successful, Horiguchi will become the fourth fighter in Bellator history to win a title in different divisions (after Joe Warren at Bellator 128, Ryan Bader at Bellator 214, and Patrício Pitbull at Bellator 221).
A Rizin Bantamweight Championship bout for the vacant title between former Bellator Bantamweight Champion Juan Archuleta and former champion Kai Asakura was scheduled to take place at the event. Former champion Kyoji Horiguchi vacated the title on December 22 after moving down to the flyweight division. However on July 18 it was announced that Asakura withdrew due to injury and was replaced by Hiromasa Ougikubo. Jul 27 - Updated fight card & background
