Patricky Freire and Kleber Koike Explain Backstage Confrontation at Bellator vs. Rizin 2

The second show pitting Bellator MMA against Rizin Fighting Federation saw the inter-promotional hostility spill over into the backstage area.

On Saturday at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, the doubleheader of Bellator x Rizin 2 and Super Rizin 2 featured the Japanese promotion once again playing host to its American counterpart, and offered up a heaping helping of the best talent both organizations had to offer, competing in Bellator’s cage as well as Rizin’s trademark white ring. The evening was marked by some wildly entertaining fights, the crowning of two new champions and a candidate for MMA’s biggest upset of 2023, as Bellator featherweight champ Patricio Freire faced the relatively unheralded Chihiro Suzuki on just days’ notice and was knocked out in the first round.

That night, however, word spread of a backstage altercation between a pair of top fighters from each promotion, as former Bellator lightweight champ Patricky “Pitbull” Freire, older brother of Patricio, and former Rizin featherweight titleholder Kleber Koike Erbst were reported to have engaged in a physical confrontation that required them to be separated by arena security.

The two fighters share some peripheral history, as the younger Freire defeated Koike by decision on New Year's Eve at the first Bellator MMA vs. Rizin event. However, the source of Saturday’s incident appears to be resentment over one man helping to train opponents to fight the other, or to fight members of the other’s team. That is about the only point upon which the two seem to agree, however, as they spoke separately to Marcelo Alonso in the days immediately following. “Pitbull” accused Koike of starting things, in part because the Freire Brothers had trained Mikuru Asakura to fight him.

“Koike attacked me from behind,” he said. “He was jealous that we trained [Asakura]. He got upset because we stayed in Japan training with Mr. Asakura, who is his rival. First, he said on his YouTube channel that me and my brother were bitches being used by Asakura brothers.”

He also took issue with Koike’s reaction to Suzuki’s stunning knockout of his brother, especially compared to how Freire had acted when Roberto Satoshi de Souza, Koike’s teammate and close friend, suffered a similar fate earlier that same night. “When I defeated Roberto Satoshi, I saw [Koike] crying and went to talk to him. He was very respectful, but after my brother got knocked out, he was celebrating. I just couldn’t stand it. My blood boiled because of his fake attitude and I went to him and told him he was a fake son of a bitch and when he stood up, I put my both hands on his chest and pushed him,” explained Patricky.

The confrontation was defused by security, but Koike later went into Pitbull´s locker room. “When he entered, I was sitting down watching a fight on my cell phone. Someone warned me, I stood up, turned around and he flying kicked me in the chest. That's a cowardly move. Later, we looked for him in the hotel but he had escaped. But now that we are in partner promotions, we will meet again soon,” said Patricky.

Sherdog also went to listen to Koike’s version of the incident. Unsurprisingly, it differs greatly from Freire’s account, and Koike also professed his belief that it came down to a misunderstanding—though that was the Pitbull brothers’ fault as well, according to him. “Patricky was the coward,” he said. “They always brag about their great salaries; they should invest in a real translator.”

“Of course, I wasn’t happy when I heard Pitbull Brothers were helping my biggest rival,” Koike admitted about the Asakura controversy. “After I submitted Asakura he said in all his interviews that he will never retire before beating me. Of course, I didn’t like to hear that Asakura rented a house for eight members of Pitbull’s team to stay in Japan, and that the Pitbulls invited him to learn jiu-jitsu in [their home city of] Natal, but I never said they were bitches bought by Asakura brothers.”

Koike laughed off Freire’s account of the YouTube video. “Actually, there is no such word in Japanese,” he said, pointing to Pitbull’s translator as the biggest culprit for the confusion. “The guy chosen to be their translator is a Brazilian friend who speaks Japanese very badly. He translated my YouTube video totally wrong and that's what caused the problem.”

About the accusation of having celebrated the misfortune of the younger Pitbull Brother, Koike said, “The whole gymnasium exploded when Suzuki knocked out one of the best pound-for-pound fighters ever. To tell you the truth, I never saw such a noisy reaction in a Japanese crowd. I just stood up like most fans present after seeing a guy that I submitted one month before knocking out a legend of the sport.”

Koike claims to have been surprised when Patricky approached and pushed him. “We had talked minutes before inside the Bellator cage when he defeated my teammate Satoshi. I never expected such an attitude when he walked up to me and pushed me. He was the coward and his attitude got me mad—that's why I went after him in the locker room. It was a question of honor to answer back. Now it’s 1-1. I’m 100% focused on getting my belt back against Keramov, but if Bellator and Rizin want to pit me against one of the Pitbulls in the future, I’ll be ready.”

The Rizin standout concluded by revealing that the backstage incident had already affected him in a way his counterparts were unlikely to experience, laboring in a Western promotion—namely, that two days after the event, he had already received a call from one of his sponsors, terminating their relationship. “It must be funny and sell fights for the American audience, but here in Japan that’s really bad. I´m the only one who was really affected by all that confusion that was caused by a bad translation.”