Kyoji Horiguchi has signed with RIZIN

MMAddict21

MMAddict21

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What a completely idiotic move by the UFC to let one of their top ranked flyweights go. But hell, the Gooch is going to get paid and put a show on in Rizin so good for him
 
I hope the UFC dies. Utter horseshit. Elite, but non-star fighters like Horiguchi are the lifeblood of the UFC.
 
One hell of a Flyweight stable RIZIN has now with Motoya, Horiguchi, Wada, the Chute Boxe guys, Tenshin, Kizaemon, Kara, and Seiichiro Ito once he gets healthy. Idk what the status of Ogikubo is at the moment, would be great if they can get him too. I'm really hoping the male GP this year is Flyweight or Bantamweight limits.
 
Stupid of the UFC to let go of this guy.
 
wow
I think ufc will remain the undisputed leader in the business, but not as dominant as of late.
I wish Euope and Asia had their own strong promotion/s, today they barely can retain a world-class talent from going to America. Krylov and Horiguchi are young supertalented fighters you can build a division around.
 
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great news for Rizin. Kyoji is the perfect guy to help build up a legitimate 125 division imo.
 
pankrat said:
wow
I think ufc will remain the undisputed leader in the business, but not as dominant as of late.
I wish Euope and Asia had their own strong promotions, today they barely can retain a world-class talent from going to ufc. Krylov and Horiguchi are young supertalented fighters you can build a division around.
Click to expand...

It's already happening. It could go either way though. Right now the UFC is in flux with WME taking over and no real coherent direction. That said, it's incredibly hard to keep a lasting and workable promotion in many countries. So this is the time, if any, that new strong promotions can pop up.

Biggest problem for most.... ego and eyes-bigger-than-stomach phenomenon usually kills promotions when they have inroads to greatness. I speak firsthand from my experiences.
 
According to sources, Horiguchi will make his Rizin debut against Yuki Motoya on April 16 in Yokohama, Japan. The promotion is expected to announce the flyweight fight in the coming days.

Horiguchi (18-2) leaves the UFC with a 7-1 record inside the Octagon. His lone loss came against flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson at UFC 186 in April 2015. Since then, the 26-year-old scored wins over Chico Camus, Neil Seery and Ali Bagautinov.

Motoya (18-4) is unbeaten in his last 11 fights. He most recently beat Allan Nascimento via split decision at Rizin 3 in December.
 
Good! I hope Rizin will be the top if the food chain. Ufc is now a circus show thanks to reebok, conor and his papa dana white
 
Well one of two things happen here......

Shows you the UFC isn't to keen on 125 weight division. DJ, they have done everything to try to get him over and fans just don't really care. Hard to stick a lot of money into a division when you haven't been able to get over with fans one of the most dominate fighters in the UFC ever. So how much can we really pay a guy DJ already beat.

or

We don't know all the details behind the scenes either. Maybe Kyoji saw a good opportunity to fight back at home. I know he trained out of ATT but I'm not sure he lived here year around or just came to the states for his fight camps. Either way, maybe this was more of him wanting to get back home and Rizin stepped up and paid him. Probably worth more to Rizin than the UFC anyways.
 
MMALOPEZ said:
According to sources, Horiguchi will make his Rizin debut against Yuki Motoya on April 16 in Yokohama, Japan. The promotion is expected to announce the flyweight fight in the coming days.
Click to expand...
wow, i hope so that's a sick fight.

ridiculous move by the UFC to not hang on to horiguchi.
 
Blessing-in-disguise.

In the UFC, Horiguchi was a prelim guy with zero promotion that was probably never going to get a rematch against Johnson.

In RIZIN, he's a big fish in a small pond, a huge get in terms of having a ranked top five fighter in the promotion, and might potentially be RIZIN's version of Sakuraba or Aoki as the next big Japanese star.

Would love it if RIZIN can get Kairat Akhmetov, and book Horiguchi against him to determine the best flyweight in the world outside of the UFC.
 
Its great he signed with Rizin hes probably one of the top japanese fighters going so he should be fighting in Japan. I just hope he fights more than once a year.
 
I'm actually happy for Horiguchi. Being the second or third best flyweight and fighting in the US isn't as big a deal as him fighting on a big stage in Japan. UFC's flyweight division, which I have enjoyed, is running its course unfortunately and the new regime will push them even less than the old bosses.
 
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