Tag Archives: Saitama Super Arena

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire to Find Japanese Kickboxer Chihiro Suzuki in Bellator-Rizin Co-Promotional Card in Japan

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Patricio “Pitbull” Freire has rizin to rush…

The 36-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist, Bellator‘s franchise fighter will fight this weekend on short notice as part of the Bellator-Rizin co-promotional card at Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

Patricio "Pitbull" FreireFreire, the Bellator featherweight champion, will face Japanese kickboxer Chihiro Suzuki at a 154-pound catchweight on the Rizin portion of the card, just a little more than one month after falling to Sergio Pettis in a Bellator bantamweight title fight.

Freire vs. Suzuki will be contested under Rizin rules in a ring.

The Bellator portion of the card, with bouts in a cage, will begin the proceedings Sunday afternoon in Japan (Saturday night in the U.S.), with the Rizin card following immediately after it.

AJ McKee, the former Bellator featherweight champion, was supposed to headline the Bellator portion of the event against Patricky “Pitbull” Freire, Patricio’s brother, in a Bellator Lightweight World Grand Prix quarterfinal fight. But McKee had to withdraw for medical reasons, it was announced Wednesday.

Rizin lightweight champion Roberto “Satoshi” Souza will replace McKee in the fight and in the tournament.

The Bellator card will include the promotion’s inaugural flyweight title fight, with former Bellator and Rizin bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi taking on Makoto “Shinryu” Takahashi.

Mikuru Asakura — arguably Rizin’s most popular fighter, who also boxed Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year — will face Vugar Karamov in a Rizin featherweight title bout in the Rizin headliner.

In the Rizin co-main event, Bellator’s Juan Archuleta will fight Hiromasa Ougikubo for the Rizin bantamweight title.

And in another title bout, the undefeated Seika Izawa will defend her Rizin women’s super atomweight title against Combate Global’s Claire Lopez.

Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza to Fight AJ McKee in Bellator vs. Rizin Card on New Year’s Eve

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Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza will ring in the New Year in the ring…

The 33-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist, Rizin’s lightweight champion, will fight in an ambitious Bellator vs. Rizin card on New Year’s Eve.

Roberto "Satoshi" de Souzade Souza will fight Bellator star AJ McKee in the main event of the December 31 card at Japan’s Saitama Super Arena. That will be a nontitle matchup.

In the co-main event, it will be both promotion’s featherweight champions — Bellator’s Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Rizin’s Kleber Koike Erbst — facing off in a superfight.

Also on the card, former Bellator and current Rizin bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi will face Ultimate Fighter veteran Hiromasa Ougikubo, and former Bellator bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta will meet ROAD FC featherweight champion Soo Chul Kim in a bantamweight bout.

All the fights on the card will take place in a ring, rather than a cage, as is tradition in Japanese MMA. The bouts will be held under Rizin rules and not the Unified Rules of MMA, meaning kicks and knees to the head of grounded opponents will be legal. This card is the last addition of an annual big MMA event in Japan on New Year’s Eve.

De Souza (14-1), a Brazilian-born fighter who lives in Japan, has won five straight and is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist.

Freire (34-5) is the greatest fighter in Bellator history, a three-time Bellator featherweight champion and former Bellator lightweight champion. The Brazilian MMA fighter has won nine of his last 10 fights.

Koike (31-5-1), a 33-year-old Brazilian-born fighter who lives and trains in Japan, has won seven straight and has 27 submission finishes in 31 career wins.

Diana Taurasi Becomes First Latinx Basketball Player with Five Olympic Gold Medals

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2020 Tokyo Games

Diana Taurasi is one of America’s Golden girls…

The 39-year-old Argentinian American professional basketball player and teammate Sue Bird have set a new Olympic record, alongside s the basketball players, men or women, with five gold medals.

Diana Taurasi & Team USA

Taurasi, Bird and their Team USA mates defeated Japan 90-75 in the women’s basketball final at Saitama Super Arena at the 2020 Tokyo Games, clinching a seventh straight Olympic gold medal for the U.S.

It was their 55th consecutive Olympic win.

Diana Taurasi & Sue Bird

“It’s been a tremendous journey,” Taurasi said. “It’s 20 years of sacrifice, of putting everything else aside and just wanting to win. It’s never easy playing on this team, the pressure, but this group found a way to win, and I am just happy that this group got to enjoy it.”

That’s an impeccable tour of Athens, Beijing, London, Rio de Janeiro and now Tokyo as they showed off a global desire for winning and longevity that has defined the program. Likely playing in their final game with the national team, Bird and Taurasi made the first two baskets and then symbolically handed it off to the younger generation to carry it home.

Brittney Griner capped off a memorable Olympic run with her best game in Tokyo, putting up 30 points on 14-on-18 shooting, to lead the offensive attack. It was the most points ever in a gold-medal game for an American, besting Lisa Leslie‘s record of 29. But the young star was more thrilled she helped Bird and Taurasi get their fifth.

“Anyone who knows me and knows [Taurasi] knows how much I look up to her,” Griner said. “Even on the court I am still in awe. Like, yo, I get to play with Diana Taurasi. So to be a part of this, her fifth, it means everything to me, honestly.”

But is Taurasi ready to try for number six?

“See you in Paris,” Taurasi said during an interview with NBC Olympics after the gold medal game.

Taurasi then walked away from the interview, leaving the NBC crew to ponder if they were breaking news just after the big win.