How about Horiguchi? Impressive! What's next?

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RiotWyatt

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Other than the Champ, the UFC has Benavidez, Cejudo, Formiga and McCall currently ranked above him.

I think he can beat Cejudo, Formiga AND McCall. Maybe, he's still not ready for Benavidez yet.

The only guys below him in the top 15 that aren't coming off of losses are Reis, Scoggins, Smolka, Pettis and Nguyen.

Smolka and Nguyen are signed to fight already. A fight with Scoggins would be fun though.
 
I really like that scoggins matchup, big fan of both guys
 
I think Horiguchi is in a difficult spot now. His speed and technique are such that I think few flyweights could pose a serious challenge to him. The trouble is that leaves him limited in terms of opponents to face as he develops (at least above him in the rankings). I think he would benefit from fighting someone slightly below him in the rankings who specializes in striking. Seery was able to land some big blows on Horiguchi while absorbing shots and while Horiguchi took them without issue, a more powerful striker might be able to give him troubles. If he can fight someone like Pettis or Smolka (talented strikers who also have pretty strong grappling) and display either finishing power or the ability to land while avoiding counters, it would show he is ready to move up.
 
Chacos9466 said:
I think Horiguchi is in a difficult spot now. His speed and technique are such that I think few flyweights could pose a serious challenge to him. The trouble is that leaves him limited in terms of opponents to face as he develops (at least above him in the rankings). I think he would benefit from fighting someone slightly below him in the rankings who specializes in striking. Seery was able to land some big blows on Horiguchi while absorbing shots and while Horiguchi took them without issue, a more powerful striker might be able to give him troubles. If he can fight someone like Pettis or Smolka (talented strikers who also have pretty strong grappling) and display either finishing power or the ability to land while avoiding counters, it would show he is ready to move up.
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The reason he got hit was because he was much more aggressive in this fight than usual. He dropped Seery twice in the first, bloodied up his face in the second, rocked him several times and had him wincing in pain in the third. He also landed several take downs at will.

Honestly though, Seery landed 2, maybe 3, good shots. The rest were glancing blows, nothing like what Horiguchi was landing.
 
RiotWyatt said:
The reason he got hit was because he was much more aggressive in this fight than usual. He dropped Seery twice in the first, bloodied up his face in the second, rocked him several times and had him wincing in pain in the third. He also landed several take downs at will.

Honestly though, Seery landed 2, maybe 3, good shots. The rest were glancing blows, nothing like what Horiguchi was landing.
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I'll definitely need to rewatch the fight but as I recall, Seery only got dropped in the first round and at least one of the two KDs was more a slip/loss of balance. That is not to say that Horiguchi did not fight very well and land almost at will, but the strike differential decreased from round to round. In round 3, Horiguchi only outlanded Seery 23 to 18 in terms of sig strikes with a percent difference of 50% to 46% (source: Fight Metric). I still had it 30-27 for Horiguchi but I think it showed where he can improve.
 
Chacos9466 said:
I'll definitely need to rewatch the fight but as I recall, Seery only got dropped in the first round and at least one of the two KDs was more a slip/loss of balance. That is not to say that Horiguchi did not fight very well and land almost at will, but the strike differential decreased from round to round. In round 3, Horiguchi only outlanded Seery 23 to 18 in terms of sig strikes with a percent difference of 50% to 46% (source: Fight Metric). I still had it 30-27 for Horiguchi but I think it showed where he can improve.
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He dropped Horiguchi with a hook then again with a stiff jab.

If you go by the numbers, then sure, it was close but if you look at the actual strikes, 1 of Horiguchi's should account for 3-5x more than Seery's. Every strike is not made the same.

You are right though. He can and should improve on that.
 
He tapped with like no time left against Johnson. No interest in seeing him fight for the title anytime soon.
 
I like the Scoggins matchup as well but I'd have no problem with him getting a fight Benavidez.
 
I like Seery , he is a very tuf guy ... but cmon , that was a total missmatch... he had nothing for Horiguchi.
Kinda sucks the state that that division is in
 
RiotWyatt said:
He dropped Horiguchi with a hook then again with a stiff jab.

If you go by the numbers, then sure, it was close but if you look at the actual strikes, 1 of Horiguchi's should account for 3-5x more than Seery's. Every strike is not made the same.

You are right though. He can and should improve on that.
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Very true

(From @Danespina)
 
With 125 going away I say feed him to MM. It'll be a fun way to say goodbye
 
If you say anything other than Scoggins you need help. Obviously Joe Silva will pick someone else
 
I could see Horiguchi beating Benavidez, I`d like to see that.

Scoggins is good too though.
 
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