Bellator taking Fedor vs. Rampage to Japan

The Global expansion of Bellator MMA will see the promotion make its first trip to the Land of the Rising Sun, on December 7th.

The fans inside the Saitama Super Arena will get some of that old Pride feeling back, as former Pride & Strikeforce champion, Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko meets, former Pride & UFC champion, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the cards main event.

We haven’t seen Emeilanenko compete since losing to Ryan Bader, by first round knockout in the finals of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix. “The Last Emperor” had a magical run to the finals, stopping both Frank Mir in the quarterfinals & Chael Sonnen in the semifinals.

The last time we all saw “Rampage” Jackson in Bellator he was trying to attack Ryan Bader, after Bader’s fight with “Rampage’s” friend Cheick Kongo ended in a no contest from a Bader accidental eye poke to Kongo. The last time Jackson was in action he scored a 2nd round TKO of Wanderlei Silva, at Bellator 206.

The card will reportedly be powered by Rizin, leaving the door open for some cross-promotional match-ups. The two promotions have had a good working relationship for years. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal was allowed by Bellator to compete in, and won the Rizing 2015 open-weight Grand Prix. Much more recently the two promotions pitted Bantamweight champions against each other.  Last December, former Bellator Bantamweight champion Darrion “The Wolf” Caldwell went to Japan to face Rizin champion Kyjio Horiguchi, but would get caught in and be forced to tap from a guillotine choke. The rematch would see Horiguchi win by unanimous decision, becoming the first Japanese Bellator champion. Horiguchi returned to Rizin two-months later, and suffered an upset knockout loss to Kai Asakura. Following Asakura’s upset victory Bellator president alluded to the possibility of the two fighting re-matching in the Bellator cage for Bellator the Bellator title; meaning the Bellator Rizin relationship is expected to continue and maybe even grow.

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