Las Vegas – Flyweight Amir Albazi returns to action for the first time since losing to Brandon Moreno in November 2024 when he faces Kyoji Horiguchi on Saturday at UFC Vegas 113.
The first Paramount+ Fight Night event will be hosted at the newly christened Meta Apex, and Albazi (17-2) will look to return to his winning ways against Horiguchi, a former UFC title challenger who, after leaving the company, won gold in Bellator and RIZIN (in two weight classes in the latter) before returning to the octagon late last year.
Like against Horiguchi, Albazi had a lengthy layoff prior to his fight with Moreno.
“I don’t know if it was ring rust, but I definitely think I underperformed in that fight, and I never got to show Amir Albazi the real Amir Albazi,” he noted during Wednesday’s UFC Vegas 113 media day featuring Cageside Press. “The original Amir Albazi. So I’m happy to be here to finally show people that this is the real Amir Albazi, this is the problem in the division. I can’t wait to show you on Saturday.”
Albazi has said he wants to be a bully in the fight. On what that looks like: “I’ve always been a bully when I go into the cage,” he said. “I’m a nice guy outside, but when I go into the cage, I want to harm people, I want to bring violence. I want to make violence nice again. I always bring that to the table, and I feel like that was missing in the Moreno fight.”
Amir Albazi was scheduled to face Tatsuro Taira last August, but the fight was canceled when he was not medically cleared. It appears it was a different issue than the one he faced prior to the Moreno fight.
That had nothing to do with his neck injury, but rather “it had to do with something else that I would rather not make public,” Albazi clarified to Cageside Press. “It just sucked that I had so many surgeries. I had surgery after Kai Kara-France, I had the heart surgery. When I got booked against Moreno, I had the neck surgery. And then when I finally came back to compete again, waiting a long time for a match, and then I don’t get medical clearance against Taira.”
“At the end of the day, that’s all behind me, all I’m focused on. I’m happy to be back in Vegas, happy to be here, and I’m beyond excited to make it to Saturday and fight another guy.”
Watch Amir Albazi’s full UFC Vegas 113 media day appearance above.
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