Roberto Satoshi is thrilled to lastly put his RIZIN light-weight title up for grabs Sunday when he faces Brazilian striker Luiz Gustavo in the primary occasion of RIZIN 48 in Saitama, Japan.
Satoshi claimed the vacant belt with a 72-second submission over Tofiq Musayev again in 2021, and defended it twice is slightly below a 12 months, ending Yusuke Yachi and Johnny Case within the opening spherical.
RIZIN opted to e book Satoshi in a non-title bout with A.J. McKee in late 2022, on a particular RIZIN vs. Bellator present in Japan, and he misplaced through resolution. Satoshi defeated Spike Carlyle in a non-title match in Might 2023, returning to motion lower than two months later to face Bellator star Patricky Pitbull, dropping by stoppage. In his most up-to-date bout, Satoshi stopped veteran Keita Nakamura in underneath two minutes.
“Japan is the one place that does this, to have a champion preventing in a non-title struggle, and we undoubtedly really feel a bit extra anxious with the belt on the road,” Satoshi stated in an interview with MMA Preventing. “The title is on the road now and to show that I’m the champion, I’ve to defend it.”
Satoshi feels that dropping two of these 4 non-title matches impacts his aura regardless of nonetheless holding the RIZIN championship, very like others have broken their manufacturers exterior of sport.
“No matter not dropping the belt and nonetheless being champion, individuals nonetheless really feel it whenever you endure a defeat,” Satoshi stated. “The belt is an emblem of the man that’s profitable fights in that division. Whenever you lose a struggle and don’t lose the belt, you’ve nonetheless misplaced. Like Francis Ngannou, a man that was unbeatable in MMA, was beating everyone [in the UFC], and misplaced in boxing. He misplaced in boxing, but it surely’s nonetheless like, ‘This man is sweet, however he’s beatable, he has a flaw.’ I believe it’s like that in with me. I’ll attempt to take in these losses and repair my errors to ensure it doesn’t occur once more with the belt on the road.”
Gustavo earned the chance in opposition to the jiu-jitsu ace after beating 4 in a row in Japan, a pair of knockouts over Yusuke Yachi and Juri Ohara earlier than choices in opposition to Koji Takeda and Yoshinori Horie, and Satoshi likes the conflict of types paying homage to the previous PRIDE days and the traditional Chute Boxe vs, Brazilian High Group rivalry.
“Luiz is a striker from Wanderlei Silva and Andre Dida’s group and he’s a fierce brawler from begin to end,” Satoshi stated. “The factor I’ve observed about him is that his will to win is way larger. He realized he has a life-changing alternative now, because it was for me.”
“I don’t suppose this struggle will go the space,” he laughed. “My submission price is over 90 %, and he additionally has a ending price greater than 90 %, to I don’t suppose this may go to the judges.”
