One of the best fighters in the world right now, free agent Kyoji Horiguchi has recently signed with Bellator. Current Bellator President, Scott Coker just announced via his Twitter account that the Rizin Bantamweight Champion, Kyoji Horiguchi will compete inside the Bellator cage in the near future.
We have signed former @BellatorMMA Bantamweight World Champion @Kyoji1012 Horiguchi and I can’t wait to see him compete in our stacked bantamweight division. pic.twitter.com/m2YKHJf2J0
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) September 10, 2021
Many consider Horiguchi a great talent mainly because of his success in his MMA run, he was also a former UFC fighter. He only had one UFC loss in his 8 UFC fights and that was against a prime Demetrious Johnson. In his loss against Mighty Mouse, he was only 25 years old, so he had a lot of room to grow as a fighter, his ceiling was yet to be reached.
After his UFC run, he signed with Rizin where his career flourished even more. He joined the Rizin Grand Prix, eventually winning all the fights and it was all stoppage. Horiguchi is not your ordinary fighter, he is probably one the best fighters in the world in terms of MMA accomplishments.
Horiguchi also beat Darrion Caldwell twice to capture not only the Rizin but also the Bellator bantamweight champion. So at one point in time, Horiguchi was holding two bantamweight belts in different organizations simultaneously.
Although Horiguchi also suffered one loss against Kai Asakura, he eventually avenged it just last December of 2020. Now, he will be competing at Bellator to capture the belt he once had. The current champion is Sergio Pettis, it will be interesting how the fight will play out.
Horiguchi also trains under at the American Top Team, one of the best MMA teams right now. Jorge Masvidal even went on record to say that Kyoji Horiguchi is the best fighter under the ATT banner which speaks highly considering they have top fighters like Dustin Poirier, Colby Covington, and even Women’s MMA GOAT, Amanda Nunes.
Some fans also wanted Horiguchi to sign with UFC instead since he failed to capture the UFC title in his first run, and it was just one loss. It was unfortunate we never got to see Henry Cejudo face Kyoji Horiguchi as it would have been an interesting matchup. Nevertheless, it would be great for Horiguchi to capture the UFC belt if he somehow signs with the UFC once more.
