Former Bellator star steps out of MMA retirement to suffer devastating first-round submission loss

Former Bellator star and powerhouse Melvin Manhoef stepped out of retirement to take on Igor Tanabe at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2022 x Ganryujima held in Tokyo, Japan.

Manhoef faced Tanabe in an MMA bout and was submitted via heel hook in less than two minutes. The Dutch fighter is now 2-3 in his last five MMA bouts and has lost his last three fights.

Tanabe is a highly accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner with multiple IBJJF world titles in the colored belt divisions.

The result was posted on Twitter by Dutch journalist Marcel Dorff, who stated:

"Melvin Manhoef came out of retirement a few hours ago to fight Igor Tanabe at the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye x Ganryujima event. The Dutch fighter lost via Heel Hook submission after 1 minute and 58 seconds."

Melvin Manhoef last fought against fellow MMA legend Yoel Romero in September. Manhoef lost via TKO and announced his retirement after the bout.

The Dutch fighter has not indicated if his recent bout against Tanabe will be his last. Whether he chooses to carry on fighting or hang up the gloves once and for all, Manhoef will forever be remembered as one of the most explosive middleweights of all time.

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Team Bellator have arrived in Japan ahead of the Bellator MMA vs. Rizin FF event on NYE

Bellator MMA and Rizin FF are set to host a cross-promotional event that will take place in Japan on New Year's Eve. The event will see some of the best fighters from each promotion go to war in an attempt to see which promotion has the superior fighters.

Bellator's bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta will take on Soo Chul Kim, and a video previewing the fight was uploaded by the promotion's Twitter account.

Archuleta said the following:

"The world talks about MMA fighting promotion against promotion, and now it's happening. It's coming on New Year's Eve here in Japan. When they told me who I was fighting, Soo Chul Kim, he's gonna try and dictate an offensive pace. He's gonna come forward and bring action. And those are my type of fights."

Watch the video below:

Several other exciting matchups will feature on the card, with AJ McKee taking on Roberto de Souza and Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire taking on Kleber Koike Erbst in the main event and co-main event respectively.