Kai Asakura pulled a massive upset over Kyoji Horiguchi when they met for the first time at Rizin 18 and now the rematch will go down this December at Rizin 26.
Rizin announced the bantamweight title fight on their Twitter.
Asakura (16-2-0) has won three of four since defeating Horiguchi, with those wins coming over Yuta Sasaki, Hiromasa Ougikubo and Shoji Maruyama. Asakura’s lone loss since that first fight with Horiguchi came to recent UFC signee Manel Kape at Rizin 20 in December of 2019. Asakura has competed 18 times as a professional MMA fighter and just three of them went the distance.
Horiguchi (28-3-0) was a double champion in Rizin and Bellator before a serious knee injury caused him to relinquish the titles. Horiguchi hasn’t competed since the first encounter with Asakura, which took place in August of 2019. Horiguchi has previously challenged for the UFC flyweight title, losing to then champion Demetrious Johnson at UFC 186.
Rizin 26 takes place on Thursday, December 31 from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan with Kai Asakura and Kyoji Horiguchi headlining.
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