Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire edged out Rizin champion Kleber Koike at the Rizin FF vs. Bellator MMA event.
To end the year, Bellator MMA and Rizin FF decided to join forces and put on a massive event for the fans. Each promotion sent its best fighters to match up against one another to see who would come out on top. Among the few that were sent from Bellator was their champion Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire. He was matched up against Kleber Koike in a champion versus champion bout.
In this cross-promotional event, Bellator sent five fighters including current and former champions to match up against five Rizin fighters. The goal was to see which promotion would come out on top, and that debate was surely resolved. The entire event can be seen as a recording on Showtime at 8 pm ET, Saturday night. Spoiler results are to follow below.
Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire scored the unanimous decision victory over Kleber Koike
In the co-main event of the night, two champions faced off for bragging rights and to represent their respective promotions. The fight was contested mainly on the feet through the first round with Freire avoiding takedowns and putting on a striking show. There were some entertaining moments including a huge throw.
Goin' for a ride!
An entertaining end to round 1⃣❗️
[ #RIZIN40 | #RIZINvsBellator ] pic.twitter.com/yfAZoAbQhZ
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) December 31, 2022
Koike was able to use his reach advantage and was able to get Freire to the mat for a bit but in the end, the Bellator veteran came out on top with the unanimous decision victory.
Kleber pulls guard!
[ #RIZIN40 | #RIZINvsBellator ] pic.twitter.com/m7sbyHQ6XB
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) December 31, 2022
Both men were respectful to each other and showed this before and after the fight. Freire led his group from Bellator to their fourth victory of the night and was able to keep the winning streak alive. The event was entertaining from beginning to end, and the fans in attendance seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Rizin FF vs. Bellator results are as follows:
- A.J. McKee def. Roberto de Souza via unanimous decision
- Patricio Freire def. Kleber Koike Erbst via unanimous decision
- Kyoji Horiguchi def. Hiromasa Ougikubo via unanimous decision
- Juan Archuleta def. Soo Chul Kim via split decision
- Gadzhi Rabadanov def. Koji Takeda via unanimous decision
