Kyoji Horiguchi “will dominate” and “beat”. [Amir Albazi] out”, per 3 times Horiguchi enemy

Kyoji Horiguchi is someone who is poised to do great things upon his return to the UFC octagon, according to a former three-time opponent of Horiguchi.

That fighter in question is Hiromasa Ougikubo, who is hot on the heels of winning the Rizin flyweight grand prix, as well as the vacant RFF flyweight title left by Horiguchi when he re-signed with the UFC, during Rizin’s annual New Year’s Eve show a few weeks ago.

When asked for his thoughts on this weekend’s key flyweight fight with Horiguchi vs. Albazi at UFC Vegas 113, Ougikubo said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“So I predict Horiguchi will dominate and I think he will probably finish him [Amir Albazi]. Knock him down.”

When it was mentioned that the reigning king of Rizin’s 125-pound class was emphatically confident in predicting this consequential matchup in his weight class, which will take place Saturday at the Meta Apex, Ougikubo responded [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“Yeah, obviously he beat me three times. So I obviously know what kind of damage he can do to someone. I’ve seen Amir Albazi’s fights and, you know, I can’t think of him any less. But I just think that overall Horiguchi is just that much better than him.”

Kyoji Horiguchi wants to cement himself as Japan’s first UFC champion

Kyoji Horiguchi wants to make history for Japanese MMA and cement himself in the UFC history books. But the former Bellator MMA bantamweight champion is locked in a race with his compatriot. Tatsuro Taira is also rapidly rising in the UFC flyweight ranks in his own right. At the pre-fight media day ahead of his Albazi clash, Horiguchi humbly said he wasn’t too preoccupied with the idea of ​​becoming the first Japanese mixed martial artist to become a UFC titleholder.

When Taira’s upward trajectory was mentioned, Kyoji Horiguchi joked that it didn’t matter much to him whether he was the first or second fighter from Japan to win a UFC belt, but that he would ultimately win the title.

The former Rizin champion had previously challenged for UFC gold when Horiguchi challenged for Demetrious Johnson’s flyweight belt, with the latter submitting the former at UFC 186 in April 2015.