Rizin officials held a press conference yesterday for Rizin 15 and one of the bigger stories coming out of that was that Jiri Prochazka would face Bellator MMA fighter King Mo for the vacant light heavyweight title.
Mo has fought for Rizin in the past while under a Bellator MMA contract, holding a 3-1-0 record in the promotion, which includes a previous win over Prochazka.
Bellator MMA President Scott Coker would issue the following statement to MMA Junkie about why the promotion allowed Mo to return to Rizin competition:
“I am committed to keeping martial arts in Japan strong and by sending top Bellator athletes like ‘King Mo’ to compete for RIZIN in April, we are doing just that. I enjoy collaborating with Nobuyuki Sakakibara and continuing to build upon the solid relationship he and I have had throughout the years. I look forward to more joint ventures between Bellator and Rizin in the near future and wish Mo good luck in his quest to become a champion of RIZIN.”
The promotion has previously sent over bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell to Rizin, but he suffered a third round submission loss to Kyoji Horiguchi in a bout to crown the first ever Rizin Bantamweight Champion at Rizin 14.
Rizin 15 takes place on Sunday, April 21 from the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan with Kyoji Horiguchi and Ben Nguyen headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on Fite TV.
