Ralek Gracie’s Bellator MMA debut will be against middleweight knockout artist Hisaki Kato.
One month after Bellator MMA announced the signing of Ralek Gracie, they’ve booked the Metamoris founder for his first MMA fight since 2010. Following a report by Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, Bellator officials announced Gracie will fight Hisaki Kato at Bellator 170 on Saturday, January 21st. The night’s main card airs live on Spike TV from The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Gracie is a perfect 3-0 in his MMA career, with his last fight ending in a decision win over Kazushi Sakuraba in DREAM. His other two fights, both in Yokohama, Japan, ended in 1st round armbar wins. Recently, Ralek has been under fire from his own brothers, Rener and Ryron, who sent out an internal email warning against doing business with Ralek, citing that he “engaged in dishonest and fraudulent activity.” In January, BJJ star AJ Agazarm took over the Metamoris Instagram account and alleged that he wasn’t paid for his bout vs. Karo Parisyan.
Kato (7-2) has had a terrific 2016. After ending 2015 with a brutal KO loss to Melvin Manhoef, Kato quickly stopped Yuta Watanabe at RIZIN FF 1 in April, then just two months later he scored a stunning spinning backfist KO vs. Joe Schilling in a Bellator Kickboxing main event. It was Kato’s 2nd knockout win over Schilling in as many years, having won by superman punch in their Bellator MMA meeting. The 34-year-old’s most recent fight ended in a 1st round TKO of A.J. Matthews, in last month’s Bellator 162 card in Memphis. All of his fights have ended in either a knockout win or knockout loss. Odds of a Ralek Gracie knockout win over Kato seem low.
Bellator 170 is headlined by a light heavyweight matchup between Tito Ortiz and Chael Sonnen. The card will be running simultaneously with UFC 208, which is taking place at the Honda Center in nearby Anaheim, CA.
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