The lineup for the Bellator MMA-Rizin Fighting Federation card
continues to grow, as two bouts were announced for the Bellator
portion of the show on Tuesday.
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Danny
Sabatello will square off against Magomed
Magomedov in a bantamweight clash, while Lorenz
Larkin will face Andrey
Koreshkov in a welterweight rematch on July 30 at Saitama Super
Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Bellator vs. Rizin 2 features a lightweight grand prix showdown
between A.J. McKee and
Patricky
Freire as well as a clash for the promotion’s inaugural
flyweight championship pitting Kyoji
Horiguchi against Makoto
Takahashi. The promotion announced that the Bellator portion of
the card, which takes place in a cage, will be broadcast live in
the United States on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT. The Rizin
part of the card, which will be contested in a ring, will not air
on Showtime.
A former wrestler at Purdue University, Sabatello has made a name
for himself due to his outspoken persona. The ex-Titan FC title
holder rebounded from a loss to Raufeon
Stots in the 135-pound grand prix to score a second-round
submission win over Marcos
Breno in his most recent outing at Bellator 294. He has been
victorious in four of his five promotional appearances.
Magomedov, meanwhile, is coming off a loss to interim bantamweight
king Patrick Mix
in the semifinals of the grand prix. The Russian’s 19-3 mark
includes a win over former UFC champ Petr Yan under
the Absolute Championship Berkut banner.
Larkin and Koreshkov initiall fought at Bellator 229 in October
2019, with Larkin emerging with a split-decision triumph. Including
that bout, Larkin is in the midst of an eight-bout unbeaten streak
in Bellator. He last appeared at Bellator 290, where he knocked out
Mukhamed
Berkhamov in the first-round on Feb. 4.
A former Bellator welterweight champion, Koreshkov has won four
straight bouts since the aforementioned setback against Larkin. Two
of those victories came in the California-based promotion: a
38-second knockout of Chance Recountre at Bellator 274 and a
unanimous verdict over Sabah
Homasi at Bellator 264.