Rizin Fighting Federation flyweight champion Kyoji
Horiguchi avenged his 2021 Bellator
MMA loss to Sergio
Pettis with a clear-cut unanimous decision victory on Sunday at
Rizin
47 in Tokyo, Japan. Horiguchi controlled the first two rounds
of the bantamweight main event and overcame a knockdown in the
final round to take the well-deserved win in an entertaining
fight. Horiguchi (33-5, 1 NC, 14-1 Rizin), who suffered a fourth-round
knockout loss to Pettis (23-7, 0-1 Rizin) in their first meeting at
Bellator 272, fought wisely in the rematch and frustrated Pettis
with jabs and leg kicks before taking him down in the opening
round. The middle stanza began with a takedown from Horiguchi and
he kept Pettis down against a corner post for more than four
minutes while remaining active with strikes from the top.

Pettis rallied in Round 3 when he dropped Horiguchi with a counter
left uppercut. Horiguchi recovered and escaped from a brabo choke,
and he pressed the action on the feet during the final two minutes
as Pettis looked for a knockout and missed with spinning kick
attempts. All three judges scored the fight for Horiguchi, who is
unbeaten in his past five fights.

It remains to be seen whether Horiguchi’s next fight will be at
flyweight or bantamweight, but the 33-year-old has recently
expressed frustration with his inability to get back into the UFC,
where he posted a 7-1 record between October 2013 and November
2016.

The featherweight co-main event ended quickly when former Rizin
champ Kleber
Koike Erbst (33-7-1, 1 NC, 8-2, 1 NC Rizin) tapped out Juan
Archuleta (29-6, 3-2 Rizin) with a nasty inverted heel hook.
Koike countered early punches from Archuleta with leg kicks until
Archuleta strangely decided to take Koike down. That was a clear
mistake, and Koike wasted no time in rolling for a kneebar before
switching to an inverted heel hook that elicited a tap from
Archuleta at the 2:25 mark of Round 1.

Koike then campaigned for a title shot and engaged in a staredown
with Rizin featherweight champion Chihiro
Suzuki. Koike submitted Suzuki at Rizin 43 in June 2023, but
that bout was ruled a no contest due to Koike’s failure to make
weight. Koike intends to wait for a championship rematch later this
year after Suzuki has first boxed against Manny Pacquiao at Super
Rizin 3 next month.

Undefeated Polish heavyweight Przemyslaw
Kowalczyk (4-0, 1-0 Rizin) made a strong statement in his Rizin
debut when he easily defeated Mikio Ueda
(3-2, 2-2 Rizin), who was riding a three-fight winning streak with
all victories coming via knockout. Kowalkczyk took Ueda down and
softened him up with punches and knees before transitioning from
back control to a belly-down armbar. Ueda had nowhere to go and
tapped out at the 2:08 mark of Round 1.

Opening up the main card, Rajabali
Shaidullaev (11-0, 1-0 Rizin) stayed unbeaten and scored a
first-round submission win over promotional mainstay Koji Takeda
(16-7, 6-7 Rizin) at featherweight. Shaidullaev was a step ahead of
Takeda on the feetm and he kept Takeda on the defensive after
taking him down into back control. Shaidullaev eventually secured a
rear-naked choke, and Takeda tapped out at the 4:43 mark of Round
1.

Prior to intermission before the main card, bantamweight champion
Kai
Asakura entered the ring to announce that he has signed with
the UFC and will be vacating his title.

Earlier in the night, Spike
Carlyle (15-6, 2-2 Rizin) came back after struggling during the
first two rounds and used a standing rear-naked choke to render
lightweight foe Kyung Pyo
Kim (13-5, 2-1 Rizin) unconscious at the 1:11 mark of Round 3;
Karshyga
Dautbek (15-3, 1-1 Rizin) stopped Tetsuya
Seki (15-10-1, 3-3 Rizin) with a left hook to the body at the
3:11 mark of Round 1 in featherweight action; Noah Bey (3-3,
3-3 Rizin) won a unanimous decision against Johnny Case
(28-10-1, 4-4 Rizin) thanks to Case receiving a significant
reduction in points due to failing to make the lightweight limit;
and Sho
Patrick Usami (7-2, 3-1 Rizin) knocked out fellow lightweight
Kazuki
Tokudome (20-12-1, 0-2 Rizin) with punches at the 2:29 mark of
Round 1. The card also featured a 137-pound kickboxing match with
MMA gloves between Genji Umeno and Mamoru Uoi,
which Umeno won via unanimous decision.

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

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