Former Bellator lightweight champion Patricky Pitbull has officially signed with RIZIN and is set to make his debut for the promotion on July 27 in Saitama, Japan.
Pitbull previously competed in a RIZIN lightweight tournament in 2019 as a Bellator representative. His upcoming bout against Shunta Nomura marks his first appearance as a contracted RIZIN fighter.
During the 2019 grand prix, the Brazilian secured knockout victories over Tatsuya Kawajiri and Luiz Gustavo before losing to Tofiq Musayev in the final. He returned to Japan in 2023 to score another knockout, this time against current lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi.
Shunta Nomura is coming off a technical decision win against Luiz Gustavo in his RIZIN debut this past March, which brought his professional record to 9-2 with four knockouts.
The July 27 RIZIN event is expected to feature several championship fights. Bantamweight titleholder Naoki Inoue is scheduled to defend his belt against Ryuya Fukuda, and Super Atomweight queen Seika Izawa will put her title on the line against Yu Jin Shin.
Featherweight champion Razhabali Shaydullaev, who recently captured the title by knocking out Kleber Koike, is also slated for the card and is awaiting an official opponent announcement.
Kleber Koike is also part of the line-up, scheduled for a rematch against Mikuru Asakura. Their initial meeting in June 2021 ended with Koike winning via triangle choke submission. Asakura recently bounced back into the win column with a TKO victory over former champion Chihiro Suzuki.
Additional bouts confirmed for the event include Masanori Kanehara versus Ya-Man, Karshyga Dautbek against Kyoma Akimoto, and Moeri Suda facing Noel.
