It’s officially official: Professional Fighters League and Rizin Fighting Federation are co-promoting.

A
high-stakes middleweight clash headlines PFL Pittsburgh: Tune in
LIVE, Saturday, March 28 at 10 p.m. ET.

During a press conference on Thursday, Rizin officials announced
that their former bantamweight champion, Naoki Inoue
(20-5), would be departing its confines to take a match outside of
Asia. The organization will now be working with PFL for the time
being, lending Inoue to the former tournament-based league to take
on a home-grown talent. Inoue will be squaring off with 2025
bantamweight tourney victor Marcirley
Alves (15-4) at
PFL Brussels in Belgium’s capital city on May 23.

Kill Cliff FC product Inoue saw his four-fight win streak come to a
grinding halt when he lost a split decision to Danny
Sabatello in December. First winning the strap by knocking out
Soo
Chul Kim in 2024, Inoue registered a pair of defenses against
Yuki
Motoya and Ryuya
Fukuda in 2025. Of note, he became the lone 135-pound Rizin
beltholder to ever successfully defend his throne. It will be his
first appearance outside of his native Japan since his one-off
match at Cage Fury FC 72 in New Jersey in 2019.

His Brazilian opponent crashed into last year’s PFL tournament and
rattled off three decisions to unexpectedly take home the belt and
a $500,000 check. Alves closed as a betting underdog in his
promotional debut against Leandro
Higo, and similarly clocked in at plus money when facing
Jake
Hadley in the semifinals. He did come in as the favored fighter
in the finals against Justin
Wetzell, and he picked up the narrow decision that had the
Sherdog
virtual judges split and leaning in the latter’s favor.

PFL Brussels current lineup:
Patrick
Habirora vs. Benson
Henderson – welterweight
Taylor
Lapilus vs. Jake Hadley
– bantamweight
Boris
Mbarga Atangana vs. Jared
Gooden – middleweight
Marcirley
Alves vs. Naoki Inoue
– bantamweight
Asael
Adjoudj vs. Keisuke
Sasu – featherweight
Donegi
Abena vs. Joe
Schilling – light heavyweight
Baris
Adiguzel vs. Gustavo
Oliveira – bantamweight

📣5.24
#PFLBrussels
💥井上直樹、PFL参戦決定💥

Bantamweight(135)

🟥#マルシルリーアウベス🇧🇷
ーーー🆚ーーー
🟦#井上直樹/@NaokiInoueMMA🇯🇵
第7代RIZINバンタム級王者#PFL
ブリュッセル(ベルギー🇧🇪）
📅日本時間5/24(日)
⏰️プレリム：AM1時、メイン：AM4時
📡#UNEXT
にて独占見放題配信⚡️… https://t.co/OpT9uEHeND pic.twitter.com/n7YMjyaWAJ

— RIZIN FF OFFICIAL (@rizin_PR)
March 27, 2026