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RIZIN featherweight Kleber Koike is extending an invitation for former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva to return to Japan for his farewell bout.
Silva recently told MMA Fighting that he’s in talks with a Japanese promotion for one final MMA clash, and Koike, who headlines Saturday’s RIZIN 43 event in Sapporo, Japan, against Chihiro Suzuki, feels it makes sense for “The Spider” to fight in Japan.
“It would be an honor to have him fight with us here, a legend of the sport,” Koike told MMA Fighting. “I’d be very happy to see a legend like him, someone I have a lot of admiration for, ending his career here. RIZIN is coming back strong and valuing legends. [Alistair] Overeem was here this week, he went to RIZIN’s office, so imagine having Anderson here as well. It would be cool to have him doing his farewell fight here.”
Silva declined to reveal which Japanese promotion he’s having conversations with for his final MMA appearance, however Koike feels there’s no better organization in Japan for Silva to do it with. The head of RIZIN is Nobuyuki Sakakibara, who ran PRIDE back in the day.
“RIZIN is the biggest MMA organization in Japan,” Koike said. “If that’s going to happen, I think it would be by the end of the year, which is when they do the big cards, the New Year’s Eve shows. It would be an honor to have him here with us, being part of the team.”
Koike returns to the RIZIN ring this weekend after coming up short in a non-title clash with Bellator king Patricio Pitbull this past December. He was stripped of his 145-pound title on Friday after missing weight for the event. Nonetheless, he still plans to fight, and feels there’s no secret when it comes to his strategy against a kickboxing ace like Suzuki.
“I’ll give you an example: Everybody knew that Marcelo Garcia was going to take your back and end the fight, and nobody could stop him. He did it masterfully,” Koike said. “Just like Khabib [Nurmagomedov], everybody knew he was going to take you down and no one stopped him. People know jiu-jitsu is my biggest weapon, they know I’ll take you down and go for the submission. I’ve been working on my striking, this is the ninth time I went to Thailand for my camp, but I can’t forget my jiu-jitsu. That’s the strategy — I can’t take risks on the feet.”
Koike won all six of his RIZIN bouts by submission prior to his loss to Pitbull, while Suzuki earned his shot at the title by winning five in a row under the company’s banner.
“You can’t underestimate [Suzuki], he’s a kickboxing champion and has his merits, but he’s never fought anyone at my level in MMA,” Koike said. “Some of his opponents were OK, let’s put it this way, but most of his opponents were strikers that went for it, and ended poorly. The only tough guys he’s fought were Masakazu Imanari, a former champion in Japan who is in his 40s and fought at 135, and Yoshiki Nakahara.”
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