By The Numbers: Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Hiromasa Ougikubo

An under-the-radar trilogy bout will provide some depth and intrigue when Bellator MMA and the Rizin Fighting Federation join forces for Rizin 40 on Saturday at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. There, Kyoji Horiguchi seeks a 3-0 advantage in his head-to-head series with Hiromasa Ougikubo in a three-round flyweight showcase.

American Top Team’s Horiguchi has already bested Ougikubo twice, having submitted him with a rear-naked choke inside the venerable Shooto organization on March 16, 2013 before outpointing him to a unanimous decision at Rizin 11 on July 29, 2018.

Horiguchi has lost three of his past five bouts. He last competed at Rizin 38, where he put Yuto Hokamura to sleep with an arm-triangle choke in the second round of their Sept. 25 encounter. Horiguchi has not recorded back-to-back victories since 2019. Ougikubo, meanwhile, has rattled off five wins across his past six outings. He last appeared on Sept. 25, when he wound up on the wrong side of a unanimous decision against former One Championship titleholder Soo Chul Kim at Rizin 38. It was Ougikubo’s first setback in more than two years.

As Horiguchi and Ougikubo make final preparations for their third confrontation with one another, 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 50% of his career total (30). His list of victims includes Kai Asakura, Ian McCall, Ben Nguyen and Shintaro Ishiwatari (twice). Horiguchi owns four other victories by submission (13%) and 11 more by decision (37%).

9: Seconds needed for Horiguchi to punch out McCall at Rizin 10 on May 6, 2018. More than four years later, it remains his fastest finish to date.

13: Consecutive calendar years in which Horiguchi has fought at least once. In addition to his 1-1 mark in 2022, he went 3-0 in 2010, 3-0 in 2011, 3-1 in 2012, 3-0 in 2013, 2-0 in 2014, 2-1 in 2015, 2-0 in 2016, 5-0 in 2017, 3-0 in 2018, 2-1 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020 and 0-1 in 2021.

.844: Cumulative winning percentage between the five men—Asakura, Patrick Mix, Sergio Pettis, Demetrious Johnson and Masakatsu Ueda—who have defeated Horiguchi. They boast a combined record of 115-20-3.

35: Years of age for Ougikubo, who was born in Kuji, Japan, on April 1, 1987.

6: Ougikubo wins by submission, accounting for 24% of his career total (25). His methods of choice: five rear-naked chokes and one guillotine choke. Ougikubo holds one other win by knockout or technical knockout (4%)—he buried Hiroyuki Tanaka with punches at a Shooto event in 2008—and 18 more by decision (72%).

75: Rounds completed by Ougikubo as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 22 different occasions and carries an 18-2-2 record in those bouts.

3: Promotions in which Ougikubo has plied his MMA trade. He has gone 15-3-2 in Shooto, 7-3 in the Rizin Fighting Federation and 3-0 in Vale Tudo Japan.

100: Combined victories between the five men—Kim, Asakura, Horiguchi (twice), Eduardo Dantas and Koetsu Okazaki—who have beaten Ougikubo. They sport a cumulative .783 winning percentage at 100-27-2.