RIZIN announcer Joe Ferraro believes Makoto Shinryu has the makings of a 'championship fighter' ahead of Bellator flyweight title fight (Exclusive)

RIZIN English play-by-play announcer 'Showdown' Joe Ferraro recently weighed in on the upcoming Bellator x RIZIN 2 event, where Kyoji Horiguchi and Makoto Shinryu will compete for the inaugural Bellator flyweight championship.

During an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Ferraro shared his thoughts on Shinryu's development as a fighter and his unique career, which began at 15-years-old. He mentioned that the exciting Japanese flyweight has championship level qualities but noted that his experience at such as young age could possibly be detrimental:

"Everything is on track to being a championship fighter, everything about him, he's very very experienced. I do get concerned when fighters compete for so long as such a young age because in my opinion, their prime is sort of skewed backwards. Generally speaking, fighters enter their prime we'll say around 24 up until about 32." [2:16 - 2:37]

Shinryu has an impressive 16-1-1 MMA record and hasn't lost since just prior to his eighteenth birthday in 2018. Ferraro mentioned that he believes he poses a challenge to Horiguchi, who will attempt to join the list of fighters to become two-division Bellator champions, saying:

"This could be that perfect storm, right? Catching lightning in a bottle and being able to defeat a superstar like [Kyogi] Horiguchi, so everything about him is exciting...I love calling his fights, he's fantastic but again, you just never know what's going to happen.... I can't wait to see it to be honest with you, it's gonna be amazing." [2:45 - 3:16]

It will be interesting to see what transpires as Bellator introduce their new men's flyweight division.

---

RIZIN announcer 'Showdown' Joe Ferraro opens up about Georges St-Pierre's upcoming return

Georges St-Pierre has fans excited as he recently announced that he will be returning to competition in December, when he competes in a grappling match on UFC Fight Pass.

During the affromentioned interview, RIZIN announcer 'Showdown' Joe Ferraro, who covered St-Pierre's career, shared his thoughts on the Canadian MMA legend returning to competition. He mentioned that he is excited to see his friend compete again and complimented 'GSP' for his incredible work ethic, saying:

"He'll [Georges St-Pierre] be ready, he's an athlete. I don't know how he'll do if that makes any sense cause he's not getting any younger either. But the dude's a machine, the guy's an absolute machine. Confident, willing to do it, willing to risk his reputation, clearly doesn't need the money...He's doing it because he wants to do it." [17:32 - 17:53]