By The Numbers: Patricio Freire vs. Kleber Koike Erbst

Reigning Bellator MMA featherweight champion Patricio Freire will take his talents to the Land of the Rising Sun for the first time when Bellator and the Rizin Fighting Federation join forces for Rizin 40 on Saturday at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. A non-title showdown with current Rizin featherweight champion Kleber Koike Erbst awaits “Pitbull” in the co-main event.

Freire enters the match on the strength of back-to-back victories. He last fought at Bellator 286, where he outpointed Adam Borics to a unanimous decision across five rounds in their Oct. 1 encounter. Erbst, meanwhile, finds himself on a seven-fight winning streak. He last competed on Oct. 23, when he put away Juntaro Ushiku with a triangle choke in the second round of their Rizin 39 confrontation.

As Freire and Erbst approach their forthcoming battle at 145 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

35: Years of age for Freire, who was born in Mossoro, Brazil, on July 7, 1987.

11: Freire victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 32% of his career total (34). His list of victims includes Pedro Carvalho, Michael Chandler, Daniel Weichel, Wilson Reis and Georgi Karakhanyan. Freire owns 12 other victories by submission (36%) and 11 more by decision (32%).

12: First-round finishes on the Freire resume, highlighted by his 61-second technical knockout of Chandler at Bellator 221 on May 11, 2019.

75: Rounds completed by Freire as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 14 different occasions and carries an 11-3 record in those bouts.

.743: Cumulative winning percentage between the five men—A.J. McKee, Benson Henderson, Daniel Straus, Pat Curran and Joe Warren—who have beaten Freire. They boast a combined record of 113-39.

33: Years of age for Erbst, who was born on Oct. 16, 1989 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

27: Erbst wins by submission, accounting for 88% of his career total (31). His methods of choice: 13 triangle chokes, seven rear-naked chokes, three brabo chokes, three armbars and one face crank. Erbst holds two other wins by knockout or technical knockout (6%) and two more by decision (6%).

1,491: Days since Erbst last suffered a setback. He has pieced together a 7-0 record following his unanimous decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot at KSW 46 on Dec. 1, 2018.

15: Consecutive calendar years in which Erbst has fought at least once. In addition to his 3-0 mark in 2022, he went 1-0 in 2008, 3-3 in 2009, 1-0-1 in 2010, 2-0 in 2011, 4-0 in 2012, 3-0 in 2013, 1-0 in 2014, 4-1 in 2015, 3-0 in 2016, 2-0 in 2017, 1-1 in 2018, 1-0 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020 and 2-0 in 2021.

105: Combined victories between the five men—Mateusz Gamrot, Artur Sowinski, Toshiaki Kitada, Yoshiro Maeda and Toshikazu Iseno—who have defeated Erbst. They sport a cumulative .648 winning percentage at 105-55-9.