AJ McKee, Patricio Pitbull Announced For Bellator Vs. Rizin Card on New Year’s Eve

Bellator and Rizin’s top fighters are coming together for one event.

No specific matchups have been announced, but Bellator said in a statement that four of its five fighters will be featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, former featherweight champion AJ McKee and bantamweights Juan Archuleta and Kyoji Horiguchi.

.@BellatorMMA vs. @rizin_PR in 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/iEZ6qW7wLe

— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) October 24, 2022

Pitbull last defended his 145-pound strap where he recorded a unanimous decision win over Adam Borics.

On the same card, McKee debuted at lightweight and also won by unanimous decision against Spike Carlyle.

Archuleta got back into the winning column also on that card, with a unanimous decision win over Enrique Barzola. He previously had a two-fight losing skid to Raufeon Stots and Sergio Pettis.

Horiguchi is signed to Bellator, but is also the current reigning Rizin 135-pound champion for the second time.

During his first run, Horiguchi competed in a Bellator-Rizin co-promotion card in New York and bested then-Bellator champion Darrion Caldwell, adding that belt to his collection.

Horiguchi, however, had to vacate the Bellator belt five months later because of injury-related inactivity.

More will be announced on Wednesday in Tokyo. The event will air in the United State in prime time on Showtime. It’ll all take place at the Saitama Super Arena.