Brazil’s Marcirley Alves will meet Japan’s Naoki Inoue in a key bantamweight conflict at PFL Brussels on Saturday, Might 23, including a excessive‑stakes worldwide matchup to the promotion’s 2026 European schedule. The bout pairs the reigning 2025 PFL World Event bantamweight champion with a former RIZIN titleholder in Inoue.
PFL vs. RIZIN
Alves enters Brussels as one in every of PFL’s breakthrough names after his run by the 2025 World Event. He secured the bantamweight championship with a unanimous determination over Justin Wetzell, taking scorecards of 49-46 and 48-47 twice within the match last. That outcome capped a season by which he upset former Bellator contender Leandro Higo and beat Jake Hadley underneath the PFL banner, showcasing his knack for shifting momentum in powerful fights.
The Brazilian turned skilled in 2017 and now competes in PFL’s bantamweight division after an earlier stint in Bellator. By early 2026 he was listed among the many prime 5 bantamweights within the league, displaying how briskly his inventory has risen since becoming a member of the match format. His file consists of double‑digit knockout or TKO victories.
Marcirley Alves vs Naoki Inoue
Throughout the cage in Brussels is Inoue, one in every of RIZIN’s most constant lighter‑weight fighters over the previous few years. The Japanese bantamweight captured the vacant RIZIN title in September 2024 with a primary‑spherical TKO of Kim Soo‑chul in Saitama, then went on to defend the belt in 2025 in opposition to Yuki Motoya by cut up determination and Ryuya Fukuda by unanimous determination. His reign ended on New 12 months’s Eve 2025, when he dropped a cut up determination to Danny Sabatello in Saitama, shedding the championship after a tightly scored battle.
Inoue brings a properly‑rounded background constructed on karate and Brazilian jiu‑jitsu, shaping a recreation that strikes easily between lengthy‑vary placing and opportunistic grappling exchanges. He has fought internationally since 2014, together with a stint within the UFC earlier than returning to Japan and rebuilding his profession with RIZIN. By the point PFL Brussels was introduced, he had compiled greater than 20 skilled wins, along with his latest schedule full of championship‑stage opposition in Japan.
PFL Brussels on Might 23 is a part of the league’s continued push into Europe, with promotional supplies highlighting the “Brazil meets Japan in Brussels” storyline for Alves vs. Inoue. The cardboard will characteristic a mixture of established names and rising European expertise, and this bantamweight matchup stands out as a stylistic check between Alves’s ahead‑transferring energy and Inoue’s measured, technical method. Whoever can impose tempo and vary over three rounds in Brussels will possible stroll away with a win that reshapes their standing within the world 135‑pound image.
