Kyoji Horiguchi News

Josh Evanoff - April 4, 2025

UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja has no issues with fighting Kyoji Horiguchi. ‘The Cannibal’ was last seen in the octagon in the main event of UFC 310 in December. That night in Las Vegas saw Alexandre Pantoja dominate the newly signed Kai Asakura, ultimately securing a second-round submission win. As of now, the Brazilian remains unbooked. However, has been linked to a clash with Kai Kara-France this summer at International Fight Week.

Josh Evanoff - March 20, 2025

According to a recent report from Ariel Helwani, RIZIN champion Kyoji Horiguchi is nearing a deal to return to the UFC. ‘The Typhoon’ hasn’t been in the RIZIN ring since his title defense against Nkazimulo Zulu in December. Back for the first time since his lopsided decision win over Sergio Pettis last summer, he handed ‘Zulu Boy’ a unanimous decision loss. The win moved Kyoji Horiguchi’s unbeaten streak to seven, and was also his first defense of flyweight gold. However, that will likely go down as his last appearance in the Japanese promotion.

Josh Evanoff - December 27, 2024

RIZIN flyweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi wants to prove that he’s the best in the world. ‘The Typhoon’ hasn’t been seen in the ring since a bantamweight clash with Sergio Pettis in June. In a rematch of their Bellator 272 classic which saw ‘The Phenom’ score a knockout win, Kyoji Horiguchi dominated. After 15 minutes of action, he moved his unbeaten streak to five by unanimous decision.

Josh Evanoff - April 19, 2024

Kyoji Horiguchi will get the chance to avenge a loss to Sergio Pettis later this summer in RIZIN. ‘The Typhoon’ is fresh off a rematch with Makoto Takahashi at RIZIN 45 in December. That fight was his second in a row with the Japanese fighter, previously fighting to a no-contest in July that ended in an eye poke. In the second bout, Kyoji Horiguchi wasted no time, securing a second-round submission victory.

Chris Taylor - December 4, 2021

Kyoji Horiguchi has provided fans with an update following his nasty knockout loss to Sergio Pettis last night at Bellator 272. Pettis (21-5 MMA) and Horiguchi (29-3 MMA) squared off yesterday evening in Connecticut with the Bellator bantamweight title on the line.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2021

Tonight’s Bellator 272 event was headlined by a highly anticipated title fight featuring Sergio Pettis taking on Kyoji Horiguchi. Pettis (21-5 MMA) was looking to earn his first career title defense when he took on former champion Horiguchi (29-3 MMA) this evening.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2021

Sergio Pettis pulled off one of the craziest comebacks in recent memory when he knocked out Kyoji Horiguchi in tonight’s Bellator 272 main event. Pettis (21-5 MMA) was looking to earn his first career title defense when he took on former champion Horiguchi (29-3 MMA) this evening.

Drake Riggs - November 24, 2021

Kyoji Horiguchi is a man on a mission. The current RIZIN FF 135-pound bantamweight king recaptured the title he never officially lost on New Year’s Eve 2020 and hasn’t fought since. Now, Horiguchi has signed with Bellator in a rare deal that sees him remain the RIZIN champ and seeks the other title he relinquished when sidelined in all of 2020 recovering from an ACL tear.

Drake Riggs - September 9, 2021

Kyoji Horiguchi is taking new steps forward in his storied career. It was revealed Thursday to BJPenn.com that the current RIZIN bantamweight champion has joined the Bellator roster. RIZIN, Bellator President Scott Coker, and Horiguchi himself announced the news via social media.

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2020

On New Years Eve in Japan (Thursday morning in North America), RIZIN Fighting Federation wrapped up the year with the stacked RIZIN 26 event. The card was headlined by a bantamweight title fight between reigning champion Kai Asakura and former champion Kyoji Horiguchi. The bout was a rematch of a non-title fight that Asakura won by knockout. This time around, Horiguchi evened the score with a first-round TKO, reclaiming the title and reasserting himself as one of the best bantamweights on earth.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2019

Weeks after he relinquished the Rizin bantamweight title, Kyoji Horiguchi has let go of the Bellator bantamweight belt as well. Bellator MMA announced this unfortunate news in a Wednesday afternoon press release.

Natasha Hooper - November 15, 2019

Kyoji Horiguchi plans to avenge his loss against Kai Asakura will have to be put on hold. The Rizin and Bellator champion Horiguchi (28-3) has been forced to withdraw from the upcoming Rizin 20 bout against Asakura (14-1) due to a damaged meniscus and torn ACL.

Chris Taylor - June 14, 2019

A highly anticipated rematch between Darrion Caldwell and Kyoji Horiguchi took place at tonight’s Bellator 222 event in New York City. Horiguchi (27-2 MMA) submitted Caldwell (12-2 MMA) in the third round of their New Years Eve bout in Japan. The victory crowned Horiguchi the first Rizin FF super bantamweight champion.

Drake Riggs - April 28, 2019

The first RIZIN Fighting Federation event of 2019 went down on April 21 with RIZIN 15. It was a great night of fights as per usual from the Japanese based MMA leader. In action, that night was none other than the RIZIN bantamweight king, Kyoji Horiguchi (27-2) who defeated Ben Nguyen via first-round TKO. The dominant 28-year old entered the ring for the first time since he won the title on New Year’s Eve 2018 at RIZIN 14 when he defeated the Bellator champion, Darrion “The Wolf” Caldwell (13-2) in a crazy comeback effort.

Drake Riggs - January 30, 2019

With each new year, Japan’s RIZIN Fighting Federation seems to continually step things up a notch with bigger and better shows. 2018 was no different. RIZIN capped this past year off with the fantastic RIZIN 14 New Year’s Eve show which was headlined by a surprising exhibition boxing match that featured all-time boxing great Floyd Mayweather vs prodigy kickboxing star Tenshin Nasukawa.

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2018

Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell traveled all the way to Japan on his quest for a second world title, as we was booked for a RIZIN 14 bantamweight title fight with Japanese star Kyoji Horiguchi. Early on this fight, it looked as though Caldwell might succeed on his transpacific mission, as he was able to take Horiguchi down and control him on the canvas.

Drake Riggs - October 15, 2018

“Is this really happening?” is just one of the many quotes or questions that may be asked when witnessing one of those obviously special sports moments. One of the more fun parts about being in the combat sports world is that there are separate sports that are similar enough for athletes to try their hands in the other aspects and varieties that exist outside of the one that they’re accustomed to.

Drake Riggs - August 28, 2018

Despite having come up short in his most recent attempted title defense, there is no question that Demetrious Johnson is one of the all-time greats. Even in his rematch with Henry Cejudo at UFC 227, it wasn’t as if the mighty one was blown out of the water in his split decision loss.