When Kyoji Horiguchi left the UFC he did so very much on his own terms. The former flyweight top contender battled out the final fight on his contract - a decision win over Ali Bagautinov - then turned down the UFC’s renewal offer, eventually landing with RIZIN Fighting Federation. It seems he couldn’t have made a better decision.
In the two years since leaving the Octagon, Horiguchi has put together an impressive 10-0 record—running through RIZIN’s 2017 Grand Prix, and capturing the promotion’s inaugural 135 lb title with a win over Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell. On June 14th, he repeated the feat, beating Caldwell at Bellator 222 to capture the…
Horiguchi dreams of RIZIN/UFC co-promotion: ‘I want to fight Henry Cejudo’