Patricio Pitbull (Credit: BELLATOR/Lucas Noonan)
Patricio Pitbull enters Bellator x Rizin 2, will face Chihiro Suzuki under RIZIN rules
Just one month after his bid to become the first ever three-division Bellator champion came up short, Patricio Pitbull is back to competition. Pitbull most recently fought Sergio Pettis for the bantamweight world title at Bellator 297, a fight that Pettis would win by unanimous decision, with many wondering what’s next for the reigning featherweight champion.
In a special press conference held Tuesday night, Bellator MMA and RIZIN officials announced a change in the main event as A.J. McKee was forced to withdraw due to medical reasons and Roberto de Souza would be replacing him to face Patricky Pitbull. After the change in the main event was announced, it was then announced that Patricio Pitbull was added to the card and he would take on RIZIN kickboxing sensation Chihiro Suzuki this weekend in the Bellator x Rizin 2 event.
The fight is contracted to take place at 154-pounds and will also be under RIZIN rules which means the two will compete in a ring rather than the normal MMA cage.
Earlier this week in a conversation with MyMMANews.com, Patricky Pitbull stated that his brother Patricio was still focused on becoming a three-division world champion, and was ready to get back in and compete when the opportunity presented itself.
With the new changes to the event this weekend here are the fights that will take place under the Bellator portion of the event under the unified MMA rules inside a cage:
- Patricky Pitbull vs Roberto de Souza (Lightweight World Grand Prix)
- Kyoji Horiguchi vs Makoto Shinryu (Inaugural Bellator flyweight title)
- Veta Arteaga vs Kana Watanbe
- Danny Sabatello vs Magomed Magomedov
- Lorenz Larkin vs Andrey Koreshkov
As for the RIZIN portion of the card here are some of the fights scheduled for the event:
- Mikuru Asakura vs Vugar Karamov (Main event RIZIN featherweight title)
- Juan Archuleta vs Hiromasa Ougikubo
- Patricio Pitbull vs Chihiro Suzuki
- Seika Izawa vs Claire Lopez (RIZIN women’s super atom weight title)
