'Big' John McCarthy shuts down fan complaining about tape-delay US airing of Bellator x RIZIN card 

John McCarthy has responded to criticism about the Bellator x RIZIN card being aired via tape-delay in the United States.

One person (@MMAJOEYC) took to Twitter to share his displeasure at the cross-promotion card not being aired live in the US:

"Bellator & RIZIN both deserve criticism for airing their card via tape delay in the US. Truly nobody wants to watch that knowing damn well it’s not live. Just doing my duty John McCarthy and Josh Thomson, by covering Bellator today."

The tweet did not sit well with McCarthy, who went on to respond to the user. 'Big John' argued that airing the Bellator x RIZIN event live in the US would have made it difficult for the audience to watch as the timing would not have been convenient:

"So your blaming Bellator and or RIZIN for putting a show on U.S. TV at a delayed time, when the actual time of the event in Japan makes it to where it is on at 5 am east coast and 2 am pacific coast? Tough crowd…"

Bellator and RIZIN hosted a cross-promotional event that featured five bouts between the fighters of the two promotions. The event took place on December 31, 2022, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Bellator won all the fights and went 5-0 at the event. Among the Bellator winners were prominent fighters like A.J. McKee, Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire and Kyoji Horiguchi.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov was in attendance for the Bellator x RIZIN event

Former UFC lightweight champion and one of the biggest names in MMA, Khabib Nurmagomedov, was present at the Saitama Super Arena for the Bellator x RIZIN event. This was Nurmagomedov's first trip to Japan.

'The Eagle' attended the event to support his teammate Gadzhi Rabadanov, who took on Koji Takeda in a lightweight scrap. Rabadanov got his hand raised via unanimous decision.

Nurmagomedov uploaded an Instagram post where he shared the experience of his trip to Japan and also congratulated Rabadanov on his victory:

"Japan was very interesting, it was the first time I visited this country, it's just a different world, I can't describe it with words. Congratulations, Gadzhi Rabadanov. You closed this team year with your performance and you managed to make it a bright win. This year is the most memorable for our team, we will remember it for a long time. It was amazing days in Japan." [via translation]