Chihiro Suzuki scored the biggest win of his career when he knocked out Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull in a non-title match in July 2023, and he expects to become more popular as the Brazilian climbs the rankings in the UFC.
A former two-division champion in Bellator, who holds a win over Suzuki’s nemesis Kleber Koike in Japan, Pitbull begins a new chapter in his career on April 12 when he faces Yair Rodriguez in what could end up being a title eliminator bout at UFC 314. Suzuki competes in the early hours of Sunday at RIZIN 50, taking on Karshyga Dautbek, and predicts a “very successful” future for Pitbull in the UFC.
“I think he’s going to do great,” Suzuki told MMA Fighting through an interpreter. “He’s going to be very successful in the UFC. I mean, he’s got tremendous credentials and he’s got great accomplishments. He’s champion of two divisions, and he’s done it all. That night I did beat him, but I was just better that night at that time. I know for sure that he’s going to be successful.”
Suzuki has had a great run so far inside the RIZIN ring, going 8-2 with one no-contest and title finishes over Masanori Kanehara and Vugar Karamov.
“Obviously, the more Pitbull wins, I think it’s just natural that my stock goes up,” Suzuki said. “The more he wins in the big stage, the more value I become. I think it’s just normal. This is not just MMA, and this is in every competitive sport, so it’s just natural for that to happen. I do hope that happens. And one day, if he becomes the champion over there, I think I deserve to get that rematch.”
RIZIN has seen fighters make the jump to the UFC in the past, with Kai Asakura challenging Alexandre Pantoja for UFC flyweight gold in 2024. Kyoji Horiguchi is rumored to be in talks for a return to the promotion as well, and Suzuki won’t close the door on switching homes in the future if it makes sense for all parts involved.
“I think it all depends on the RIZIN fans,” Suzuki said. “If the RIZIN fans want to send me out to the UFC, and see me challenge to the UFC, I’ll definitely consider that. But right now, if the RIZIN fans say, ‘hey, we don’t want to see you go,’ if they want to continue to see me fight in RIZIN, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to stay here.”
Suzuki remains focused on his upcoming bout with Dautbek in Kagawa, and predicts a first-round knockout finish.
“I have the confidence because I’ve done it before,” Suzuki said. “I’ve knocked out a world champion before, I’ve knocked out Pitbull, and that’s very convincing to me. I did something that a lot of people couldn’t do, so that’s where my confidence comes from. I’ve done it once, I know I can do it again.”
Suzuki lost his most recent bout in a thrilling three-round war defending his 145-pound belt against Koike this past December. He said he’s “learned the depth about the ground game” with that bout. In order to become a complete mixed martial artist, the Japanese star went a step further and reached out to Koike to train at his team in Japan, alongside Koike and Roberto Satoshi.
“I felt that in order to beat this new champion, which is Kleber, I need to learn from him,” Suzuki said. “I need to learn from the champion in order to beat the champion. That was my immediate thought. And to put it simple, I haven’t lost in such a while. So it was just simple thought that I haven’t lost, I really want to get that loss back, and I need to get better. And the best way to get better is to learn from the person who just defeated me.
“I wanted to get better. And the best way to get better is to learn from the person who just defeated me. Obviously he knows my weaknesses and he capitalized on my weaknesses, so learning from him I thought would be the best way to take my game to the next level.”
Suzuki doesn’t rule out chasing a trilogy match with Koike one day, but only after they kick out “international invaders” from the RIZIN featherweight roster.
“At the beginning I had absolutely no concerns about [fighting each other after training together,” Suzuki said. “I was going to go in there, I was going to learn from him and eventually beat him. But as we got to train together my thoughts have kind of changed. It felt more like I didn’t want to fight him unless it’s absolutely necessary. Obviously, it’s going to take me a few more fights in order to get that title shot, and if Kleber still remains champion at the time, and if I have to fight him, I’ll definitely fight him.
“But right now, as we train together, we kind of bonded,” he continued. “We have like a common goal where RIZIN’s featherweight division is being invaded by a bunch of international fighters, and they’re all tough and they’re all very strong, so I think we came to a common goal where we are going to fight off these international invaders to RIZIN, who are coming over and try to take over. We’re both going to fight off the invaders and then eventually, if we still have to fight, we’ll fight as good sportsmen. But you know, realistically, I don’t really want to fight him right now.
“If that’s the case, if we have to fight when the time comes, I think we’ll be able to show the beauty aspect of real sports, the sportsmanship aspect. We can fight with full-on respect and trade skills as martial artists. These days in MMA, it’s all about trash talking and bad blood and controversy and all that kind of stuff, but I think there’s a different side to MMA that we can show. I think when that time comes for me to fight Kleber, I think we’ll be able to fight and show the beauty of the real sport.”
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