Bellator vs. Rizin event slated for New Year’s Eve in Japan

Bellator MMA have announced another crossover event with Rizin, which is set to take place on New Year’s Eve.

Over the course of the last few years, Bellator has made an effort to branch out and work with a series of different promotions. While it’s unlikely they’ll be able to strike any kind of cross-promotional deal with the UFC, there are certainly other companies that are more than willing to partake.

Rizin is the most notable, with perhaps their best collaboration being Bellator 237 which featured fighters from both rosters at the Saitama Super Arena in December 2019.

Now, they’re going to ramp things up by putting on a Bellator vs Rizin show.

Bellator vs. Rizin 5️⃣ on 5️⃣!

Historic showcase set for New Year’s Eve at Saitama Super Arena when stars from Bellator MMA 🌎 and @Rizin_PR 🇯🇵 collide.

Kickoff press conference this Wednesday at 6 p.m. JST/5 a.m. ET LIVE on the Bellator YouTube channel 📺 pic.twitter.com/Upv6YvSf8R

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) October 24, 2022

“BELLATOR MMA and RIZIN Fighting Federation are proud to announce the historic, first-iteration of a star-studded BELLATOR MMA vs. RIZIN event set to take place on New Year’s Eve, Saturday, Dec. 31, at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Bellator set to battle Rizin

“BELLATOR MMA athletes will step outside of the cage and compete inside the four-sided ring against their RIZIN counterparts in a five-fight main card. RIZIN and BELLATOR MMA have led the way for the entire MMA landscape on collaborative co-promotion dating back to 2015, however, this will be the first time two promotions have had their top fighters challenge one another over the course of an entire event. Additional information, including the rules set will be revealed soon.”

Quotes via Bellator

A full press conference announcing bouts will take place tomorrow on October 26, but it’s already been confirmed that AJ McKee, Patricio Pitbull, Juan Archuleta and Kyoji Horiguchi will be among those competing on fight night.

What are your thoughts on this crossover event? Are you excited to see what kind of match-ups will be made and which of the two promotions will get the upper hand? Let us know in the comments, BJPENN Nation!