With most of the MMA world idle for the holidays, Bellator and Rizin hosted a cross-promotion event on New Year’s Eve in Japan.
Bellator’s brightest stars including A.J. McKee, Patricio Freire, Kyoji Horiguchi, Juan Archuleta, and Gadzhi Rabadanov represented the promotion against Rizin FF’s lineup. It was a clean sweep for Bellator, as they won all five bouts at the year-end event.
Horiguchi returned to flyweight, where he picked up a unanimous decision win over Hiromasa Ougikubo. The former UFC title challenger re-enters the rankings at 125 pounds this week, marking the biggest move ahead of 2023 events.
Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings above.
