Kyoji Horiguchi is now a free agent with his Rizin contract coming to an end. He had previously been with the UFC, leaving after his last fight in 2016 and competing in Rizin starting in 2017.
He went 7-1 in the UFC losing his only fight to Demetrious Johnson via submission in the very last second of the fight. Many felt he would continue to get better and eventually rematch Johnson.
He signed with Japan-based promotion Rizin where he went 10-1 and also competed for the Bellator bantamweight title, winning that fight by submission.
He was extremely successful during his time in Japan and is considered one of the best flyweights in the world.
Kyoji Horiguchi appeared on the American Top Team Podcast “Punchin' In” where he revealed the news of his free agency. “I’m a free agent right now,” Horiguchi said on the podcast.
The MMA world started coming up with different scenarios for the Japanese fighter. He could re-sign with Rizin, compete in Bellator, come back to the UFC, rematch Demetrious Johnson in ONE Championship.
Kyoji Horiguchi's manager, who is also the owner of American Top Team, Dan Lambert, discussed what the options are and what could be next.
“Kyoji’s an interesting fighter because he’s very popular in Japan, which is why he left the UFC,” Lambert said (transcription via MMAJunkie). “You left the UFC, and you had won like four or five fights in a row when your contract expired, but they offered you significantly more money to fight in Japan. The Japanese promotions like having Japanese stars. In the heyday of PRIDE, it was built around Japanese fighters and bringing in people from different countries, kind of like us against the world.
“But you have to start with successful Japanese stars. So you’ve been in Rizin for quite a while now, Rizin cross-promoted with Bellator, which is how he was able to fight Caldwell over in Rizin, defended your title there. You won that fight, so you had another fight for his title in Bellator, won that title prior to getting hurt. So there’s a lot of interest in Kyoji from Bellator, staying in Rizin, UFC’s always looking for the best fighters in the world, so I think Kyoji is probably gonna make a decision soon.”
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