AJ-McKee-and-Patricky-Pitbull

AJ McKee and Patricky Pitbull will compete to become Bellator’s inaugural flyweight champion during Bellator x RIZIN 2 this July

Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix continues with A.J. McKee set to take on Patricky Pitbull at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan during the Bellator x RIZIN 2 event on July 30. The fight card will also see the first ever Bellator flyweight world champion being crowned when Kyoji Horiguchi faces off with Makoto “Shinryu” Takahashi in the main event.

The event, which is being co-promoted with RIZIN, was announced by Bellator officials during a press conference in Japan on Saturday. McKee, who previously held the Bellator flyweight championship, moved to the lightweight division with two straight wins under his belt. He dispatched Roberto de Souza in the last Bellator x RIZIN card on New Year’s Eve before being scheduled to face Pitbull, who lost the Bellator lightweight title last November to Usman Nurmagomedov.

Pitbull will attempt to get back on track when he faces McKee after his brother Patricio Pitbull split a pair of fights with the Californian fighter. In the co-main event, the highly skilled Horiguchi will seek to earn the title of the first ever Bellator flyweight champion, making the introduction of a men’s 125-pound division in the promotion. Although Horiguchi had been competing in the bantamweight division lately, he had shown his skill as one of the top flyweights during his time in UFC, before picking up a win at flyweight over Hiromasa Ougikubo in the last Bellator x RIZIN card.

“Shinryu,” the 22-year-old sensation, has an impressive record of 16-1-1 with 10 straight wins, including three wins from his last four victories by submission. In addition to the main events, women’s flyweights Kana Watanabe and Veta Arteaga are also scheduled for a fight on the Bellator x RIZIN 2 card in July. The Bellator fights will be held in a cage, while the RIZIN fights will take place in a ring. Two Bellator fighters, Juan Archuleta and Tofiq Musayev, have been scheduled to compete on the RIZIN portion of the event.

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