5 Defining Moments: Kyoji Horiguchi

Kyoji Horiguchi has fashioned quite a career for himself, and he still has work left to do.

The former Bellator MMA and Rizin Fighting Federation champion will take on fellow Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Ray Borg in a three-round Bellator 295 flyweight showcase on Saturday at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. Horiguchi, 35, enters the cage on the heels of back-to-back victories. However, he has not fought in the Scott Coker-fronted organization since dropped a five-round unanimous decision to Patrick Mix at Bellator 279 a little less than a year ago.

As Horiguchi makes final preparations for his showdown with Borg at 125 pounds, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define him:

1. Shooting Star

Horiguchi laid claim to the Shooto bantamweight title when he disposed of Hiromasa Ougikubo with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their March 16, 2013 headliner at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The end came 1:35 into Round 2. Horiguchi cut off repeated takedown attempts from a defending champion who was openly wary of his would-be successor’s standup prowess. Ougikubo managed to scramble into full mount at one point in the first round but did little with the advantageous position. Horiguchi’s takedown defense held up again in the second period and allowed him to put some hammerfist-laden ground-and-pound on the Paraestra Matsudo export. He was the matador to Ougikubo’s bull. Eventually, Horiguchi sidestepped a takedown, wheeled to the back and threaded both hooks before cinching the fight-ending choke. It was Ougikubo’s first setback in nearly three years and brought instant validation to his tormentor.

2. ‘Mouse’ Trap

The irresistible force and immovable object all wrapped into one at 125 pounds, Demetrious Johnson retained his Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight crown by submitting Horiguchi with a fifth-round armbar in the UFC 186 main event on April 25, 2015 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. “Mighty Mouse” executed the maneuver and elicited the tapout 4:59 into Round 5, putting himself in the record books with the latest submission in UFC history. Horiguchi’s efforts were admirable but unproductive. Johnson executed 14 takedowns and six guard passes against him, all while outlanding him by better than a 2-to-1 clip in the total strike and significant strike departments. It was a blowout in every sense of the word and sent a humbled Horiguchi back to the drawing board.

3. Taming a Beast

Horiguchi continued to cement himself as one of the sport’s premier lighter-weight competitors when he captured the Bellator MMA bantamweight title with a five-round unanimous decision over Darrion Caldwell in the Bellator 222 co-headliner on June 14, 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Scores were 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46, all for Horiguchi, who moved to 2-0 in his head-to-head series with the former NCAA wrestling champion. Caldwell—who had submitted to a third-round guillotine choke from the American Top Team rep at a Rizin Fighting Federation event six months prior—was effective early, as he exploited his height and reach advantages in the standup exchanges and kept the Japanese superstar off-balance with well-timed takedowns. However, his gas tank could not withstand the workload. Horiguchi conceded takedowns but neutralized the Alliance MMA export from a seated position in a scene that repeated itself over and over again, scoring with short punches as the Rahway, New Jersey, native clung to his legs. Caldwell scrambled on top in the fifth round but failed to consolidate his efforts with ground-and-pound or positional advancements, choosing instead to eat a few elbows to the side of the head before nearly wandering into an inverted triangle choke that sealed his fate on the scorecards.

4. A Serving of Revenge

A vengeful Horiguchi rebounded from a stunning 68-second knockout loss to Kai Asakura and buried the Tri-Force Jiu-Jitsu Academy representative with punches to reclaim the Rizin Fighting Federation bantamweight crown in the first round of their Rizin 26 headliner on Dec. 31, 2020 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Asakura succumbed to blows 2:48 into Round 1. Horiguchi focused on kicks to the lower lead leg of his counterpart, routinely circled out of danger and forced the champion to engage him in open space. After hobbling Asakura with one particularly damaging leg kick, Horiguchi dodged a flying knee, floored him with a right hand and pounced with punches until referee Minoru Toyonaga saw fit to intervene. He later vacated the title to return to the flyweight division.

5. Blindsided

Sergio Pettis retained the undisputed Bellator MMA bantamweight championship when he knocked out Horiguchi with a spinning backfist in the fourth round of their Bellator 272 main event on Dec. 3, 2021 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Roufusport mainstay brought it to a shocking conclusion 3:24 into Round 4. Horiguchi had command of all of his pitches and kept the Milwaukee native off-balance with darting lateral movements. The Japanese star battered Pettis’ lead leg with kicks, punctuated his combinations with powerful overhand rights, mixed in a handful of spinning back kicks to the body and incorporated strategic takedowns in the first, second and third rounds. None of it mattered. A little more than midway through Round 4, Pettis pushed the American Top Team rep toward the fence and uncorked a head kick at close range. Horiguchi ducked out of danger, only to be ambushed by the spinning backfist that followed. The impact turned out his lights and sent him crashing to the canvas, the unwitting victim in one of the most spectacular finishes of 2021.