MMA Fighter of the Week: Kyoji Horiguchi

MMA Fighter of the Week: Kyoji Horiguchi

By Daniel Gibbon

No matter how many times I thought about who deserved to be named fighter of the week, one name consistently stood out each and every time, Kyoji Horiguchi (28-2).

Horiguchi went into his fight this past week knowing he could make history if he managed to defeat Darion Caldwell (13-3) for the second time in six months.

Horiguchi successfully defended his Rizin bantamweight title against Caldwell back in
December and entered the Bellator cage, on Friday night, as both the challenger and a slight betting underdog.

Horiguchi was, in my opinion, unfairly made a betting underdog for two main reasons. These reasons included the fact that the fight would take place in a cage instead of a ring on this occasion, as well as this being his first fight on American soil in four
years.

Horiguchi went into the rematch against Darrion Caldwell, at Bellator 222, knowing full well that the American would be motivated to avenge his loss, via 3rd round submission (guillotine choke), at Rizin.

In between the two fights, Caldwell decided to use the six months, since being submitted, to solely prepare for the rematch, whereas Horiguchi, on the other hand, decided that he would put his Rizin bantamweight title on the line again against former UFC fighter Ben Nguyen
(16-9).

Horiguchi clinically dispatched of Nguyen, knocking him out after just 2:53 of round number one. This title defense left Horiguchi just under two months to prepare for the second fight against Caldwell.

Horiguchi may only have given himself a short turn around period for the rematch, although thanks to his quick finish of Ben Nguyen he managed to come out of the fight with relatively no damage. This meant that he could go straight back into a training camp to prepare to face Caldwell for a second time.

Horiguchi overcame the odds again and went on to make history, this past Friday night, in the curtain raiser for the Bellator 222 main card after he comfortably beat Caldwell by unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden. To become the first ever fighter to hold a title for both Bellator and Rizin simultaneously.

The two promotion champion currently holds a 13 fight win streak, spanning just under four years. His victims during this streak include scalps such as Darrion Caldwell (x2) (13-3), Ben Nguyen (16-9), Ian McCall (13-7), Manel Kape (13-4) and Hiromasa Ogikubo (18-4).

When Horiguchi was asked what he puts his win streak down to he said:

“I have completely changed my environment. I moved everything to ATT (American Top Team). I have worked on my ground game. I believe that I am a much more complete fighter and a more well-rounded fighter than I was.”

Kyoji Horiguchi is one of the few fighters currently competing outside of the UFC that can legitimately make a claim for being the best fighter in the world. Although, to prove this he would need to avenge his loss to Demetrius Johnson (28-3) and beat Henry Cejudo (15-2).

The idea that he would need to beat the current UFC flyweight and bantamweight
champion, Henry Cejudo, to prove he is the best bantamweight in the world is not lost on Horiguchi who, after becoming Bellator bantamweight champion, told Ariel Helwani:

“I’m better than Henry Cejudo. I want to fight Henry Cejudo. Let’s go fight.”

A fight against Cejudo would be an amazing contest between two of the best fighters in the world, although it is unlikely to happen anytime soon with Cejudo being on the UFC’s roster.

There is no way the UFC would sign off on a cross-promotional fight ever again, certainly when they take into consideration the current depth of quality in their bantamweight division.

If a fight between Horiguchi and Cejudo were to materialize in the future, and Horiguchi manages to emerge victoriously he would not just be the fighter of the week, he would arguably be the greatest fighter of all time.