Bellator and RIZIN are teaming up for a fun New Year’s Eve show in Japan.
The calendar is pretty sparse in these waning days of 2022. However, two promotions have decided to join forces to give us a heck of a show before the curtain falls on the year.
Bellator vs. RIZIN will be coming at you from Japan in the early morning hours of December 31. If you can’t catch the festivities live, you can watch it on tape delay later on in the day via Showtime.
The show will feature five fights pitting Bellator fighters versus counterparts from RIZIN. The headliner is an absolute banger with submission aces AJ Mckee and Roberto Satoshi (RIZIN’s lightweight champ) going at it. The co-main has Bellator featherweight champ facing RIZIN featherweight champ Kleber Koike Erbst.
Before those fights perennial Bellator contender Juan Archuleta will face former ROAD FC bantamweight champion Soo Chul Kim.
Rounding out the card is RIZIN bantamweight champ, and former Bellator and UFC title challenger, Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Hiromasa Ougikubo and Koji Takeda vs. Gadzhi Rabadanov.
The event is preceded by RIZIN 40. That event includes fighters that should be familiar to UFC fans: John Dodson, Rogerio Bontorin, Noaki Inoue and Johnny Case.
RIZIN 40 starts at 12 a.m. ET and is immediately followed by Bellator vs. RIZIN at 6:30 a.m. ET. In the US Bellator vs. RIZIN airs, via tape delay, at 8 p.m. ET on Showtime.
Fight Card
Bellator MMA vs. RIZIN FF
Lightweight: AJ Mckee Jr. vs. Roberto de Souza
Featherweight: Patricio Freire vs. Kleber Koike Erbst
Bantamweight: Juan Archuleta vs. Soo Chul Kim
Flyweight: Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Hiromasa Ougikubo
Lightweight: Koji Takeda vs. Gadzhi Rabadanov
RIZIN 40
Atomweight championship tournament final: Seika Izawa vs. Si Woo Park
Heavyweight: Tsuyoshi Sudario vs. Junior Tafa
Bantamweight: Naoki Inoue vs. Kenta Takizawa
Bantamweight: Yuki Motoya vs. Rogerio Bontorin
Lightweight: Luiz Gustavo vs. Johnny Case
Flyweight: Hideo Tokoro vs. John Dodson
Lightweight: Noah Bey vs. Sho Patrick Usami
Live Stream
In the US Bellator vs. RIZIN will air, via tape delay, on Showtime at 8 p.m. ET. Showtime is currently offering 30 days free service, then $3.99 a month for six months. Showtime usually costs $10.99 a month.
Showtime can be streamed on TV streaming services Amazon FireTV, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, XBOX One and smart TVs from LG and Samsung.
The app can also be installed on Apple, Android and Amazon mobile devices.
Showtime can also be bundled with subscriptions to Paramount+, Prime Video, Hulu, Apple TV and traditional TV cable providers.
Bellator vs. RIZIN will air online via FITE.tv for many territories across the world (excluding the US). The event, which is packaged with RIZIN 40, costs $14.99.
Fite.tv can be viewed on the following devices:
Web browsers
All major modern browsers including Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge.
Mobile devices and tablets
Install the FITE app from the iOS App Store, Android Google Play or Amazon.
Smart TVs
Samsung TV
LG TV
Vidaa or VEWD via Hisense TV and selected TiVO boxes
Vizio SmartCast TVs
Netgem Set-Top Box
AT&T TV Device
Gaming consoles and streaming devices
Amazon Fire TV
Apple TV
Chromecast
Optimus Stream
Playstation 4
Roku
Xbox One
Xfinity Flex and X1 TV Box