Kyoji Horiguchi News

Tom Taylor - March 29, 2018

Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto protege and current American Top Team staple Kyoji Horiguchi has long stood out as one of the best flyweights on earth. In late 2016, however, the one-time UFC flyweight title challenger left the UFC, and set up shop under the Rizin Fighting Federation banner in his native Japan.

Jason Kindschy - March 28, 2018

Another STACKED episode of BJPENN.COM Radio has arrived, Penn Nation! We kick things off with former UFC lightweight champion and current Bellator MMA star, Benson Henderson. Following the announcement that James Gallagher would not be competing at Bellator 196 in Budapest next weekend, Benson answered the call to save the card and now faces another MMA veteran in Roger Heurta. We’ll preview the fight in the usual “Smooth” fashion, discuss what he’d like to accomplish in 2018, and we’ll hear Ben’s interesting take on how to fix judging in MMA.

Justin Golightly - February 28, 2018

Right before Summer heats up, the premier Japanese fighting organization will put on their first fiery card of 2018 on May 6th. Perched atop of the card will be two former UFC fighters going at it in what may be the highest level of MMA to take place within the RIZIN ring. Newly crowned RIZIN bantamweight grand prix champion Kyoji Horiguchi will take on former UFC flyweight title challenger Ian McCall. Respectful Horiguchi is eager to test his skills. “This will be my first fight in Fukuoka against a top fighter Ian McCall. I would like to put on a good performance to show the greatness of fighting. I would like to take on challenges this year, and would like start this year 2018 by winning against Ian McCall in a good way. Manel Kape versus Ian McCall was an accident, I don’t take anything away from Ian because of that fight.”

Justin Golightly - February 17, 2018

The year of the superfight is truly upon us. Whether they all go down or not, three giant fights between champions in different divisions are expected to fight each other. Whether this is the UFC’s big explosion like the death of a star, or their metamorphosis to survive in the future, it’s clear that things are changing. So, if we’re going to crack open the door to allow for epic fights like these, why not just kick it off the hinges? Let’s take down the political boundaries between organizations and have champions be able to fight other champions to really decide who are the top fighters on our humble spinning rock. Unfortunately, that’s impossible until some sort of MMA Ali Act is passed. However, there is no red tape on our imagination, so this is what we’ll explore in the very first edition of Fight Think. 5.  Bellator World Grand Prix winner vs. Stipe Miocic/Daniel Cormier winner (Bellator heavyweight champion vs UFC heavyweight champion)

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2017

While UFC 219 dominated the MMA spotlight on Saturday night, it was not the only major event going down. Across the Pacific, Rizin Fighting Federation hosted its stacked, year-end card, which was highlighted by the finals of its action-packed bantamweight Grand Prix. The quarterfinals of this Grand Prix went down two nights ago, when Manel Kape defeated UFC veteran Ian McCall with a bizarre, ring-rope induced stoppage, Takafumi Otsuka tapped formerly undefeated prospect Khalid Taha, Shintaro Ishiwatari brutally KO’d Kevin Petshi, and UFC veteran Kyoji Horiguchi snuffed Gabriel Oliveira. 

Tom Taylor - February 20, 2017

Over the last few weeks, the UFC has generated some significant controversy by releasing a handful of top-flight fighters from their roster. Some of the more noteworthy of these fighters are ranked light heavyweights Ryan Bader, Misha Cirkunov and Nikita Krylov and streaking welterweight star Lorenz Larkin. Perhaps the most talented and promising fighter of the bunch, however, was Kyoji Horiguchi, who at just 26 years old, had already fought for the UFC flyweight title, and amassed an overall record of 18-2. While the UFC’s willingness to let the fan favorite Kid Yamamoto protégé go is quite frankly baffling, the good news is that the popular Japanese star has already found himself a new home. As many expected, he’ll be returning to his homeland to compete in the ring of surging Japanese promotion Rizin Fighting Federation.

Tom Taylor - February 19, 2017

Over the last few weeks, the UFC has generated some controversy by removing a number of high profile fighters from its roster. The most high-profile fighters to part ways with the organization have been light heavyweight talents Ryan Bader and Misha Cirkunov, and welterweight star Lorenz Larkin. Other names to be scratched off the UFC roster include Valerie Letourneau, Ali Bagautinov, Rick Story, Takeya Mizugaki and Seohee Ham. Over the weekend, this unfortunate trend continued, as two more ranked fighters became free agents.