Deadly leg kick! 🦵💥
The finish from @PatrickyPitbull
in slow motion 👀Advertisement
Can he go all the way in the
#BellatorLWGP?
#BellatorXRizin pic.twitter.com/rCRgEII479
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA)
July 30, 2023
Bellator
MMA staged its second big cross-promotional event with
Rizin Fighting Federation at the legendary Saitama Super Arena
in Japan. The venue was the sight of many of
Pride Fighting Championships‘s greatest events, which mixed
martial arts fans remember fondly to this day.
Appropriately, the
Bellator MMA vs. Rizin 2 main event was a battle between two
Brazilians with very different styles. Calling to mind the days of
Chute Boxe versus
Brazilian Top Team, Roberto
Satoshi de Souza was the world-class submission grappler and
Patricky
Freire the devastating striker.
De Souza came in on short notice for the 161-pound catchweight
contest, replacing A.J. McKee,
but was still the favorite, being younger than Freire and having
easily dispatched Spike
Carlyle in his last outing. Freire is the former Bellator
lightweight champion but is 37 and has lost his title after being
dominated for 25 straight minutes by undefeated phenom Usman
Nurmagomedov.
However, Freire showed that he still has plenty left. He repeatedly
stuffed de Souza’s takedown attempts and punished him with strikes,
particularly a set of stinging low kicks. Finally, in the beginning
of the third round, a Patricky calf kick left de Souza collapsed on
the canvas and rolling over to cover up. Referee Kerry Hatley
intervened, giving Freire a fantastic TKO victory, one of the best
of his career.
The co-main was a historic first-ever Bellator flyweight
championship match. On one hand was one of the greatest Japanese
fighters ever in Kyoji
Horiguchi, who had fought for the
Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight title years ago
against Demetrious
Johnson and had won bantamweight titles in both Rizin and
Bellator. He faced sensational 23 year-old Makoto
Takahashi. Despite being so young, Takahashi had already
amassed a stellar record of 16-1-1, including winning 10 in a row.
His last loss had come in early 2018, when Takahashi was a mere 17
years old. Alas, the hotly-anticipated duel was over in just 25
seconds due to an eye poke. The no contest will almost certainly
mean these two will fight again on a future card.
In a women’s flyweight affair, Tokyo native Kana
Watanabe confronted tough veteran Veta
Arteaga. Watanabe was expected to win, but instead it was
Arteaga who defended innumerable takedowns and beat up her opponent
badly with strikes, including hurting her on multiple occasions.
All three Sherdog scorers had it 30-27 Arteaga. Unfortunately, the
three cageside judges disagreed, inexplicably giving it to Watanabe
29-28 across the board in what is a fine candidate for 2023’s
Robbery of the Year.
Elite bantamweight grapplers collided as American Danny
Sabatello faced Dagestan’s Magomed
Magomedov. Sabatello had recorded a nice submission victory
over Marcus Breno after losing a narrow split decision to Raufeon
Stots for the interim title. Meanwhile, Magomedov had come into
Bellator with considerable hype, holding an early win over Petr Yan, with
his only defeat coming against Yan in a rematch. Magomedov had some
success in Bellator, including a submission of Enrique
Barzola, but dropped a decision to Stots and was submitted by
the superb Patrick Mix
in his last outing. It was expected to be close, but Magomedov
showed a clear superiority in both the striking and grappling
against Sabatello. With about a minute left in Round 1, Sabatello
tried to get up too fast from a takedown and Magomedov pounced,
locking in a tight guillotine to force a tap 3:55 into the
fight.
In the opening contest, former Bellator welterweight champion
Andrey
Koreshkov rematched long-time top contender in both Bellator
and the UFC, Lorenz
Larkin. Their first meeting was one of the best fights in all
of 2019, ending in a split decision for Larkin. Moreover, both were
in good form heading into the rematch, with Larkin having recorded
one of the best knockouts of 2023, dispatching Mukhamed
Berkhamov with a gorgeous elbow in just 101 seconds, as part of
a 7-fight winning streak dating back to January 2018, and Koreshkov
having won 4 in a row, three by stoppage, since the narrow defeat
to Larkin. This time, Koreshkov leaned even more on his grappling,
taking the first two rounds on most scorecards. Larkin came back to
win the last frame, but it wasn’t enough, as Koreshkov took the
split decision.