The two-time Rizin Fighting Federation champion will face Makoto Takahashi for the inaugural Bellator MMA flyweight crown in the Bellator x Rizin 2 co-headliner on Saturday at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Horiguchi steps back into the spotlight on the strength of back-to-back victories. The American Top Team rep last appeared at Rizin 40, where he took a three-round unanimous decision from Hiromasa Ougikubo on Dec. 31. Takahashi, meanwhile, finds himself on a career-best 10-fight winning streak. He last fought on April 1, when he put Daichi Kitakata to sleep with an arm-triangle choke in the second round of their Rizin 41 pairing.
As Horiguchi and Takahashi make the final push toward their forthcoming clash at 125 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
32: Years of age for Horiguchi, who was born on Oct. 12, 1990 in Takasaki, Japan.
15: Horiguchi victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 48% of his career total (31). His list of victims includes Ben Nguyen, Ian McCall and Shintaro Ishiwatari (twice). Horiguchi owns four other victories by submission (13%) and 12 more by decision (39%).
86: Rounds started by Horiguchi as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 14 different occasions and carries a 12-2 record in those bouts.
10: First-round finishes on the Horiguchi resume, highlighted by his nine-second knockout of the aforementioned McCall at Rizin 10 in 2018.
.841: Cumulative winning percentage between the five opponents—Patrick Mix, Sergio Pettis, Kai Asakura, Demetrious Johnson and Masakatsu Ueda—who have beaten Horiguchi. They boast a combined record of 112-20-3.
23: Years of age for Takahashi, who was born on Miyagi, Japan, on July 5, 2000.
4: Takahashi wins by submission, accounting for 25% of his career total (16). His methods of choice: two guillotine chokes, one arm-triangle choke and one ninja choke. Takahashi holds 12 other wins by decision (75%).
1,918: Days since Takahashi last suffered a setback. He has pieced together a perfect 10-0 record following his decision defeat to Tatsumitsu Wada under the Deep banner on April 28, 2018.
8: Consecutive calendar years in which Takahashi has fought at least once. In addition to his 1-0 mark in 2023, he went 3-0 in 2016, 2-0-1 in 2017, 2-1 in 2018, 3-0 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020, 1-0 in 2021 and 3-0 in 2022.
88: Combined victories between the four opponents—Kitakata, Hideo Tokoro, Seiichiro Ito and Yusaku Nakamura—Takashi has defeated in Bellator and Rizin. They sport a cumulative .599 winning percentage at 88-58-5.