Kyoji
Horiguchi still has plenty of time to build on an already
outstanding legacy.
The two-time
Rizin Fighting Federation champion will face
Makoto
Takahashi for the inaugural
Bellator
MMA flyweight crown in the
Bellator x Rizin 2 co-headliner on Saturday at Saitama Super
Arena in Saitama, Japan. Horiguchi steps back into the spotlight on
the strength of back-to-back victories. The
American Top Team rep last appeared at Rizin 40, where he took
a three-round unanimous decision from
Hiromasa
Ougikubo on Dec. 31. Takahashi, meanwhile, finds himself on a
career-best 10-fight winning streak. He last fought on April 1,
when he put
Daichi
Kitakata to sleep with an arm-triangle choke in the second
round of their Rizin 41 pairing.
As Horiguchi and Takahashi make the final push toward their
forthcoming clash at 125 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that
have accompanied them to this point:
32: Years of age for Horiguchi, who was born on Oct. 12, 1990 in
Takasaki, Japan.
15: Horiguchi victories by knockout or technical knockout,
accounting for 48% of his career total (31). His list of victims
includes
Ben Nguyen,
Ian
McCall and
Shintaro
Ishiwatari (twice). Horiguchi owns four other victories by
submission (13%) and 12 more by decision (39%).
86: Rounds started by Horiguchi as a professional mixed martial
artist. He has gone the distance on 14 different occasions and
carries a 12-2 record in those bouts.
10: First-round finishes on the Horiguchi resume, highlighted by
his nine-second knockout of the aforementioned McCall at Rizin 10
in 2018.
.841: Cumulative winning percentage between the five
opponents—
Patrick
Mix,
Sergio
Pettis,
Kai
Asakura,
Demetrious
Johnson and
Masakatsu
Ueda—who have beaten Horiguchi. They boast a combined record of
112-20-3.
23: Years of age for Takahashi, who was born on Miyagi, Japan, on
July 5, 2000.
4: Takahashi wins by submission, accounting for 25% of his career
total (16). His methods of choice: two guillotine chokes, one
arm-triangle choke and one ninja choke. Takahashi holds 12 other
wins by decision (75%).
1,918: Days since Takahashi last suffered a setback. He has pieced
together a perfect 10-0 record following his decision defeat to
Tatsumitsu
Wada under the
Deep banner on
April 28, 2018.
8: Consecutive calendar years in which Takahashi has fought at
least once. In addition to his 1-0 mark in 2023, he went 3-0 in
2016, 2-0-1 in 2017, 2-1 in 2018, 3-0 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020, 1-0 in
2021 and 3-0 in 2022.
88: Combined victories between the four opponents—Kitakata,
Hideo
Tokoro,
Seiichiro
Ito and
Yusaku
Nakamura—Takashi has defeated in Bellator and Rizin. They sport
a cumulative .599 winning percentage at 88-58-5.