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 guide 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 choice. Satoshi defeated Spike Carlyle in a non-title match in Could 2023, returning to motion lower than two months later to face Bellator star Patricky Pitbull, shedding by stoppage. In his most up-to-date bout, Satoshi stopped veteran Keita Nakamura in beneath two minutes.
“Japan is the one place that does this, to have a champion preventing in a non-title battle, and we positively really feel a bit extra anxious with the belt on the road,” Satoshi stated in an interview with MMA Combating. “The title is on the road now and to show that I’m the champion, I’ve to defend it.”
Satoshi feels that shedding two of these 4 non-title matches impacts his aura regardless of nonetheless holding the RIZIN championship, very similar to others have broken their manufacturers outdoors of sport.
“No matter not shedding the belt and nonetheless being champion, folks nonetheless really feel it if you undergo a defeat,” Satoshi stated. “The belt is a logo of the man that’s profitable fights in that division. Whenever you lose a battle 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 soak up these losses and repair my errors to ensure it doesn’t occur once more with the belt on the road.”
Gustavo earned the chance towards 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 towards Koji Takeda and Yoshinori Horie, and Satoshi likes the conflict of types paying homage to the previous PRIDE days and the basic Chute Boxe vs, Brazilian Prime Workforce rivalry.
“Luiz is a striker from Wanderlei Silva and Andre Dida’s crew and he’s a fierce brawler from begin to end,” Satoshi stated. “The factor I’ve seen about him is that his will to win is far larger. He realized he has a life-changing alternative now, because it was for me.”
“I don’t suppose this battle will go the space,” he laughed. “My submission charge is over 90 %, and he additionally has a ending charge increased than 90 %, to I don’t suppose it will go to the judges.”
