UFC veterans are going to be colliding this coming May when Kyoji Horiguchi battles Ian McCall in the main event of Rizin 10.
McCall enters the bout coming off of a loss to Manel Kape in the Rizin Bantamweight Grand Prix, but that loss hasn’t crushed McCall’s desire to fight a fellow UFC veteran.
“This will be my first fight in Fukuoka against a top fighter Ian McCall. I would like to put on a good performance to show the greatness of fighting. I would like to take on challenges this year, and would like start this year 2018 by winning against Ian McCall in a good way. Manel Kape vs Ian McCall was an accident, I don’t take anything away from Ian because of that fight. What he has done, and how he fought in the UFC, I have nothing but respect for him. I had plans for fighting Ian in the tournament, so I think I have a head start on my training camp I terms of strategy. He’s a very strong wrestler, so I think he’s going to try to take me down and grind. I don’t think he is going to want to stand with me at all. I have been training hard, and I will be ready to take on everything he delivers,” Horiguchi said at a press conference.
Horiguchi did wind up winning the Rizin Bantamweight Grand Prix, defeating Shintaro Ishiwatari in the finals.
A potential super fight with kickboxing great Tenshin Nasukawa has been rumored for quite some time now and it is a bout that Horiguchi would readily accept.
“If the fight against Tenshin Nasukawa will help the Japanese fight community regain popularity, I would love to do it. I come from a Karate background so there would be no difference fighting him under kickboxing rules, it will be a regular fight without grappling. The size of gloves won’t matter, if I land he will go down. He may be the superstar in kickboxing, but I am confident that my standup is better,” says Horiguchi.
Rizin 10 takes place on Sunday, May 6 from the Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan with Kyoji Horiguchi and Ian McCall headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on Fite TV.
