Sergio
Pettis is scheduled to make his first bantamweight title
defense when he faces Kyoji
Horiguchi at a Bellator MMA event on Dec. 3.
The pairing was first announced by the promotion on the Morning Kombat
show. The card takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville,
Conn., and airs on Showtime.
Pettis claimed 135-pound gold with a five-round verdict against
Juan
Archuleta at Bellator 258 on May 7. The Roufusport export is
currently on a four-bout winning streak that includes wins over
Ricky
Bandejas and Alfred
Khashakyan in the California-based promotion. Before signing
with Bellator, Pettis went 9-5 in the UFC while competing at both
bantamweight and flyweight.
Horiguchi was briefly a dual-promotional champion in both Rizin and
Bellator but was forced to relinquish his belts after suffering a
knee injury. In his return to action, the American Top Team member
captured the Rizin throne again with a first-round knockout of
Kai
Asakura this past December. Horiguchi is 10-1 since leaving the
UFC, with his only loss coming to Asakura in a non-title bout in
August 2019.