UFC might soon welcome another legend back, with Japanese fighter Kyoji Horiguchi considering to make a return to the octagon.
Horiguchi made his first official UFC fight back in UFC 166, where he earned a memorable second-round TKO victory over Dustin Pague. After this, the Japanese fighter showed consistency in achieving victories in his following bouts, only for Demetrious Johnson to give him his first UFC loss via submission at UFC 186. Nonetheless, the fighter bounced back by making three more wins before leaving the promotion after defeating Ali Bagautinov in November 2016.
Despite his departure from the promotion giant, Horiguchi grew outside the octagon after joining Bellator and RIZIN. The fighter even managed to secure the bantamweight belts of both organizations in the past and is currently the No. 5-ranked fighter of Bellator. He also currently holds the RIZIN flyweight title.
With these achievements, Horiguchi is considering to go back to the UFC. Although still in contract with Bellator, which is now under PFL, the fighter admitted that he’s still aspiring to wear the UFC belt soon. In his recent statement, Horiguchi seemed determined in the move, sharing that his team is now working on his release.
“ I don’t have anyone in particular that I want to fight. I really want to win the [UFC] belt, that’s all I’m thinking about.” Horiguchi said via a translator, as quoted by Yahoo Japan. “…I’ve checked with my manager about that [release], but I haven’t heard anything yet. So, there’s a lot of uncertainty around that, so I’d like to go through the formalities to go to the UFC as soon as I figure that out.
“As I mentioned earlier, I don’t know the timing or the plan at all. But I’m still under contract with Bellator, but I can’t help but clearly state the name of the UFC.”
According to the report, RIZIN President Nobuyuki Sakakibara has already signed off on the move. In case it is finalized and the release is approved by the PFL, “The Typhoon” will face a lot of interesting choices in the UFC roster, with the bantamweight being owned by Sean O’Malley and the flyweight by Alexandre Pantoja. Yet, reaching the top will be a challenge, especially now that the fighters are scrambling to get the title shot against the champs in their respective class weights.
