Former UFC title challenger, Bellator champ, and RIZIN two-division champion Kyoji Horiguchi is back in the spotlight this weekend, facing off against Manel Kape in the main event of UFC Vegas 119.
“I’m really happy, because this is main event, and I have a good opponent,” Japan’s Horiguchi (36-5, 1NC) stated during this week’s media day. “So I get really excited.”
It’s not the first time Horiguchi has crossed paths with Kape. The pair faced off in 2017 in RIZIN; the Japanese star came away with the win that night. Since then, he sees growth in his former, and future, opponent.
“He’s getting better everywhere, but it’s the same. Me too. I’ve really leveled up everywhere, with striking, jiu-jitsu, wrestling. So I’m not scared about him.”
In Kape’s fight with Muhammad Mokaev, he struggled with the ground game. Horiguchi plans to test him there, but he’ll utilize his full skillset. “Yeah of course. I will do ground, striking, I use everything. Everywhere.”
Should he get a win this Saturday at UFC Vegas 119, Kyoji Horiguchi will be in the thick of the title hunt in the flyweight division. Who is champ, should he get to a title shot, will be the question. Joshua Van recently defeated Horiguchi’s compatriot, Tatsuro Taira. Alexandre Pantoja, who was injured in losing his title to Van, is expected to be back in the not too distance future.
“First I will beat Kape’s ass, then next, I dunno, who’s champion at that time, but after that I will get the belt,” noted Horiguchi. “Soon! Yup.”
Asked whether there was bad blood with Kape after their first fight, Horiguchi had a rather interesting answer.
“Honestly I don’t remember that fight, because I got headbutted,” Horiguchi said with a laugh.
He does want to make history, however, by adding a UFC title to his collection. He’s held bantamweight gold in Bellator and RIZIN (holding both titles simultaneously), and later added flyweight gold in Japan’s RIZIN.
“Yeah. I don’t have only UFC belt, and also, Japanese doesn’t have a belt [in the UFC] yet. So I wanna make history.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 119 media day appearance by Kyoji Horiguchi above.
