A surprising and downright intriguing rematch between Kyoji Horiguchi and Sergio Pettis has been revealed for RIZIN 47 on June 9.
Promotion officials recently announced the news in a press conference and subsequent press release, with the second fight, as with the pair’s first, coming in the bantamweight division.
Additionally, another Bellator MMA veteran, Juan Archuleta, will face Kleber Koike at the event, set for the Saga Arena in Saga, Japan.
Pettis (23-6) knocked out Horiguchi (32-5, 1NC) in the fourth round of their Bellator 272 main event in December of 2021, finishing the Japanese star with a stunning spinning back fist. Pettis earned the first successful title defense of his bantamweight reign with the victory, having previously won the title from Archuleta. Following another win over Bellator double-champ Patricio Pitbull, Pettis would drop the belt to Patchy Mix last November.
Bellator MMA was then bought out by the PFL, who will run eight Bellator Champions Series shows this year. Many other Bellator vets have joined the PFL Global season. Pettis, however, was not among them.
Horiguchi, meanwhile, also fell to Mix, as part of the promotion’s bantamweight grand prix. He’s bounced back since, and won the inaugural RIZIN flyweight championship in his last outing. It’s back to bantamweight to look for revenge against Pettis, however.
Juan Archuleta (29-5) was stripped of his RIZIN bantamweight belt after missing weight for RIZIN 45 in December; he wound up finished by Kai Asakura in the bout. In his return at featherweight, he gets an ex-champ in Koike (32-7-1, 1NC) coming off a win over Yutaka Saito.
In addition to Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Sergio Pettis and Juan Archuleta vs. Kleber Koike, one additional fight has been announced for RIZIN 47. That bout sees Karshyga Dautbek face off with Tetsuya Seki at featherweight.
