Bellator featherweight and lightweight champion Patricio Pitbull Friere and his coach “Captain” Eric Albarracin joined MMAWeekly’s Jim “Gries” Grieshaber for an exclusive interview recently in Scottsdale, Ariz., while training at Fight Ready MMA, home of Olympic Gold Medalist and two-division UFC Champ “Triple C” Henry Cejudo.
Pitbull and Captain Eric told Gries about the Bellator Double-Champ’s million-dollar challenge to Dana White to fight and beat any UFC fighter, called out Conor McGregor, and explained why Michael Chandler will be the UFC lightweight champ. Patricio also discussed how he feels headlining Bellator’s first event on its new home on the Showtime Network and more.
(James Goyder is the owner/editor of AsianMMA.com)
Kyoji Horiguchi recaptured the Rizin bantamweight title with a first-round stoppage win over Kai Asakura at Rizin 26 on Friday. The UFC veteran was returning after a lengthy layoff and coming off a loss to the same opponent.
Horiguchi was back to his brilliant best and Asakura simply had no answer for his striking. The champion was on the receiving end of a series of right low kicks at the start of the fight.
Asakura tried to counter with a high kick, but Horiguchi made him miss and continued to punish the lead left leg. The champion was in visible discomfort and tried to turn the fight around with a flying knee.