Rumor: Bitetti Combat to Pair Legend Sakuraba Opposite Paulo Filho

Tatame has issued a report that former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho may take on Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba at the Bitetti Combat 6 Show, which will take place February 25th in Brazil.

Bitetti Combat joins Shine Fights as the two most exciting new breakout promotions on the global MMA radar screen.  Bitetti Combat 4 was stacked with talent, such as Ninja/Steibling, Arona/Eastman, Filho/Schoenauer, and Rizzo/Monson.

Despite falling hard and fast out of fan favor after a horrible performance against Chael Sonnen in their WEC rematch, that loss remains the only flaw on Filho's 19-1 record.  He last submitted Tatsuhiko Nishizaka at Bitetti Combat 4 in December with a first round kimura, which put Filho three fights deep in the win column since he fled the states to resume his career overseas.

We last saw MMA icon Kazushi Sakuraba in the cage at DREAM 12 where he tapped Zelg Galesic with a smooth kneebar.  Sakuraba is another fomer great who has dropped out of the spotlight in the waning years of his career.  I shut the door on Sak as a top competitor after he was violently defiled by Ricardo Arona in Pride, but "The Gracie Hunter" has gone 9-3-1 since his 2005 fight with Arona, and has done so against pretty solid competition. 

During his post-Arona streak, Sak racked up wins over Ken Shamrock via a rare explosion of strikes, and submitted Minowa, Shibata, Funaki, Nakahara, Rubin Williams, and Galesic.  He was edged out on the cards by Royce Gracie in their long-awaited rematch, also dropped a decision to Kiyoshi Tamura in K-1, and was brutally mauled by Melvin Manhoef. 

I've got Sak all day in this fight.  His bread and butter is taking advantage of submission-oriented fighters with lesser striking abilities, using crisp leg kicks, a good sprawl, and some of the best anti-Jiu Jitsu in the business to keep his opponent out of their element. 

I believe he'll do the same to Filho.  We'll post more on the Bitetti Combat 6 card as details materialize.