porque eu gosto de luta assim quando mais
desacreditar em mim quando maior for meu gigante, maior ainda será
minha Fé Não fui eu que ordenei a você? Seja forte e corajoso! Não
se apavore nem desanime, pois o SENHOR, o seu Deus, estará com você
por onde você andar”.Josué 1:9 pic.twitter.com/X9DOfN2wF7— roberto satoshi de s (@ToshiJJ)
October 26, 2022
If the fight hits the mat, Rizin Fighting Federation lightweight kingpin
Roberto de
Souza believes he can teach his Bellator MMA-based foe a thing or two.
On Wednesday, Bellator and Rizin announced a unique and potentially
thrilling show for Dec. 31 at a joint press conference, titled
Rizin 40:
Rizin vs. Bellator. Together, the promotions will pit champions
from their respective leagues, or top stars in certain weight
categories, against one another in the Rizin ring. The fights will
be held under Pride-style rules, and the marquee match held at the
Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, will be Rizin 155-pound
champ Souza (14-1) against Bellator stalwart A.J. McKee
(19-1). Shortly after the faceoffs, Sherdog spoke to headliner
Souza about the impending battle.
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“If the fight were in the cage, no doubt it would be a big
disadvantage, [considering] I’m used to [training and fighting] in
rings, but the fight will be in Rizin rules in our ring,” Souza
admitted. “My style is to take [my] opponent down and I don’t use
cage support.”
The confident Brazilian did not feel the need to hide his gameplan,
and although he appreciates his opponent’s skillset, he simply
believes he is better.
“A.J. is a complete fighter,” Souza noted. “Of course, my hands
will be well-trained, but there is no secret that my goal is to
take him home. A.J. is also very good on the ground, he has many
submissions in his career, but we clearly have totally different
styles. His ground is pretty much focused in MMA, my style is more
a competition jiu-jitsu style. I believe I’m much more lethal than
A.J.
McKee in the ground.”
The two lightweights first squared off at the press conference on
Wednesday, and it was a stern encounter where the two remained
silence the entire time.
“He didn’t [say] anything to me, and I did the same. We did not
exchange any words,” the Rizin lightweight champ stated.
According to “Satoshi,” the fact that his partner and teammate,
Kleber
Koike Erbst, is also on the card, will be important to their
combined training camps. Erbst, the featherweight Rizin
titleholder, will square off against Patricio
Freire in the co-main event. Souza has the utmost of confidence
in his friend and training partner.
“I’m more ‘graduated’ than [Koike] in jiu-jitsu but he is older
than I in MMA,” Souza explained. “Koike has 37 MMA fights, and is
coming from seven straight wins in a great moment. His last loss
was via decision to Mateusz
Gamrot in 2018. Before [he earned the] Rizin belt, he also got
[the] KSW belt. I have no doubt he will do a great fight with
Patricio.”
Both Erbst and Souza are “sanseis” or those born from a Brazilian
mother and Japanese father, which is yet another thing the two
jiu-jitsu aces have in common. Their life stories bear a striking
similarity to one another, as Erbst and Souza were born in Sao
Paulo, Brazil. Later, they both came to Japan as “dekasseguis,” or
immigrants who traveled to Japan in search of work. The two have
created a number of grappling academies around the world together,
both finding jiu-jitsu as their true passion.
“Today we are very happy to live from jiu-jitsu,” Souza said with a
smile. “We have six branches of Bonsai Jiu-Jitsu and, thanks to our
success in MMA, our academies are full of students…but we had to
work hard in car factories before being able to make a living from
martial arts.”
Ever the passionate jiu-jitsu practitioner, Souza is always
watching major events that involve notable grapplers competing
against one another. As it turned out, the Brazilian paid very
close attention to UFC 280, which took place on Oct. 22 with a
headliner of Charles
Oliveira vs. Islam
Makhachev. Souza, who met Oliveira frequently in jiu-jitsu
tournaments and defeated “Do Bronx” six times over the years, holds
Oliveira in extremely high regard. Even though Oliveira succumbed
to a submission from Makhachev in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates,
Souza still believes in his former adversary.
“Islam [landed a powerful blow] that permitted him submit Charles
with a katagatami, but of course, Islam and Khabib train a lot of
jiu-jitsu in [American Kickboxing Academy], just like any top
fighter today. But that win will not erase all submission records
Charles broke,” Souza concluded.