Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Japanese Fighters

3. Kyoji Horiguchi

By far the best Japanese fighter of modern times, Horiguchi finishes a very well deserved third. Frankly, he is far more skilled than anyone else on this list, including the two men ahead of him. However, flyweight and bantamweight are such ridiculously talented weight classes these days, with such amazing contenders and champions, that even Horiguchi has suffered decisive losses and hasn't stayed champion of a major organization for long. Horiguchi has superb striking, with fast, powerful kicks to all parts of the body and even faster, deadly accurate punches. He has power in both fists, knocking out opponents with his vicious left hook as well as his monstrous overhand right. Over the course of his career, and especially after having moved to work with American Top Team, his grappling has gotten better and better, so much so that he now dominates elite fighters with his wrestling and has scored a number of submission victories. He also has great cardio and is exceptionally tough, resourceful, and smart. Horiguchi achieved a record of 11-1 by the time he turned 23, mostly in the Shooto organization. His lone blemish was a majority decision loss to the much larger Shooto great Masakatsu Ueda, while clearly defeating UFC veteran Ian Loveland, choking out Hiromasa Ougikubo and knocking out Shintaro Ishiwatari. That earned Horiguchi an invitation to the UFC, where he had immediate success in the flyweight division, going 4-0 with two finishes. This earned him a crack at UFC champion Demetrious Johnson: not only the greatest flyweight ever, but a man I rank as the second greatest mixed martial artist of all time. This obviously proved to be a bridge too far, as Johnson dominated the 24 year-old Horiguchi en route to submitting him via armbar at 4:59 of Round 5, a second before the fight ended.

Undeterred, Horiguchi went back to winning against mere mortals, decisioning Chico Camus and Neil Seery, and earning his most impressive win yet against Ali Bagautinov. 7-1 in the promotion but unsatisfied with the UFC's offer, Horiguchi decided to fight in Rizin, where he quickly became the promotion’s greatest champion ever. After a decision win over the very tough Yuki Motoya, he recorded five straight finishes, knocking out veteran Hideo Tokoro and previously undefeated Gabriel Oliveira, submitting Manel Kape—a win that has only grown more impressive over the years—knocking out Shintaro Ishiwatari in a rematch, and needing just nine seconds to send Ian McCall into retirement with a left hook. He then beat Hiromasa Ougikubo in a rematch before taking on Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell in an inter-promotional showdown. Caldwell was winning the fight for the first two rounds with his world-class wrestling, but Horiguchi never gave up, catching him with a guillotine choke early in Round 3. As the dual Rizin and Bellator bantamweight king, he knocked out former UFC contender Ben Nguyen and then beat Darrion Caldwell a second time, this time in the Bellator cage.

Horiguchi was widely considered a top pound-for-pound talent, but he suffered a shocking knockout defeat to Kai Asakura in a little over a minute of the first. Taking time to recover from leg injury, Horiguchi would get his revenge, this time knocking out Asakura in a little under three minutes on New Year's Eve 2020. Always striving for greatness, Horiguchi tested himself against the very best of Bellator's rapidly improving bantamweight division. Facing Bellator's bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis, Horiguchi dominated the first 18 minutes with the best wrestling of his career, only to be caught with a Hail Mary spinning backfist, which won Sherdog's 2021 Knockout of the Year. Horiguchi then faced Patrick Mix, possibly the best pure grappler in all of MMA, and was soundly dominated by his amazing submission wrestling, dropping a decision. Horiguchi has come back to win his last two, submitting journeyman Yuto Hokamura and defeating Ougikubo for a third time. He is 32 years old and still capable of climbing this list in future installments, but given the incredibly high level of bantamweight, and Horiguchi being notably undersized for the weight class, it will be exceptionally difficult.

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