Former Bellator lightweight champion Patricky Pitbull has inked a deal with RIZIN and already has a fight booked for July 27 in Saitama, Japan.
Pitbull, who represented Bellator in a RIZIN lightweight tournament back in 2019, now makes his first walk to the ring as a proper RIZIN fighter when he faces Shunta Nomura.
The Brazilian scored knockouts over Tatsuya Kawajiri and Luiz Gustavo in that grand prix prior to losing to Tofiq Musayev in the final. He returned to Japan in 2023 to knock out current lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi.
Nomura won a technical decision over Gustavo in his RIZIN debut this past March, boosting his overall record to 9-2 with four knockouts.
RIZIN.4 will feature title defenses for bantamweight titleholder Naoki Inoue and super atomweight queen Seika Izawa, battling Ryuya Fukuda and Yu Jin Shin respectively.
Razhabali Shaydullaev, who recently claimed the featherweight gold with a knockout of Kleber Koike, is also expected to be part of the card against a yet-to-be-determined challenger.
Koike will also be on the line-up in a rematch with Mikuru Asakura. They first met in the ring back in June 2021, when Koike choked out the Japanese star with a triangle choke. Asakura recently returned tot he winning column with a TKO over ex-champion Chihiro Suzuki.
The line-up will also feature Masanori Kanehara vs. Ya-Man, Karshyga Dautbek vs. Kyoma Akimoto, and Moeri Suda vs. Noel.
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