Bantamweight gold will be on the line when Kyoji
Horiguchi and Kai Asakura
square off in a rematch more than a year in the making on New
Year’s Eve.
Both Horiguchi and Asakura made weight ahead of their championship
bout in the Rizin
Fighting Federation 26 headliner. Horiguchi tipped the scales
at 134 pounds, while Asakura checked in at 133.9 pounds. Rizin 26
takes place on Dec. 31 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and
and is available via
pay-per-view for $25.
Asakura and Horiguchi initially squared off in a non-title bout at
Rizin 18, with Asakura scoring a surprising 68-second knockout
victory on Aug. 18, 2019. Horiguchi, who was then 135-pound
champion in both Rizin and Bellator MMA, vacated both titles after
suffering a knee injury and has not competed since that defeat.
“I started sparring and training fully in July. I feel like I am
close to 100 percent,” Horiguchi said. “I’ve been adding new stuff
to my original style during this period. I never think about the
fight until right before the fight so things are as usual. My
absence from the ring really doesn’t affect me.
“Once I take back my Rizin belt, I feel obligated to take back my
belt in Bellator. I feel terrible that I wasn’t able to defend
it.”
Asakura, meanwhile, saw his first bid for the bantamweight belt
fall short when he was stopped by Manel Kape
in the second stanza of Rizin 29 approximately one year ago. Since
then, the Tri-Force Akasaka representative has rebounded with
back-to-back first-round finishes of Hiromasa
Ougikubo and Shoji
Maruyama.
“Everything about me has gotten better and I want to show that in
my fight. I will make a statement in this fight,” Asakura said.
“I’m not worried if Horiguchi is back 100 percent, he can’t change
his style that easily. I know what he’s capable of doing. I can
adjust to any changes that he may bring to the fight.
“I plan to defend my belt against Horiguchi and then go after the
Bellator belt.”
Rizin 26 Weigh-in Results:
Kai
Asakura (133.9) vs. Kyoji
Horiguchi (134)
Mikuru
Asakura (149.9) vs. Satoshi
Yamasu (149.5)
Ayaka
Hamasaki (107.9) vs. Miyuu
Yamamoto (107)
Yuki
Motoya (134.3) vs. Naoki Inoue
(133)
Kleber
Koike Erbst (147.1) vs. Kyle Aguon
(146.6)
Ren
Hiramoto (149.4) vs. Kyohei
Hagiwara (149.9)
Hideo
Tokoro (133.8) vs. Shinobu Ota
(134.2)
Yuta
Sasaki (133.9) vs. Kenta
Takizawa (134.37)
Kanna
Asakura (107.9) vs. Ai Shimizu
(107.4)
Kazuma
Kuramoto (138.3) vs. Taiyo
Nakahara (137.3)
Tsuyoshi
Sudario (252.7) vs. Ikuhisa
Minowa (182.3)
Sakura
Mori (116.1) vs. Eru
Takebayashi (111.55)
Kickboxing
Tenshin
Nasukawa (125.4) vs. Kumandoi Phetjaroenvit (124.5)
Nadaka Yoshinari (110) vs. Phetmalai Phetjaroenvit (110.1)
Special Standing Bout Rules
Takanori
Gomi (171.9) vs. Koji Tanaka (143.3)
* Mori missed weight by 3.7 pounds and has been fined 50 percent
of her purse. Additionally, she will begin her fight with a red
card, which is a 50 percent deduction from the judging criteria. If
Mori finishes the fight, it will be ruled a no contest. If her
opponent wins, the result will be official.