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Kai Asakura (imagined) protects his bantamweight title against Kyoji Horiguchi at RIZIN 26 on Dec. 31 in Saitama, Japan|Esther Lin, Mixed Martial Arts Battling.
2 of the world’s finest bantamweights are facing off again on New Year’s Eve.
RIZIN revealed Friday that Kai Asakura (16 -2) will defend his 135- pound title in a rematch versus Kyoji Horiguchi (28 -3) at RIZIN 26 on Dec. 31 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
The 2 first combated in a non-title bout at RIZIN 18 in August of last year. Asakura surprised the then-champion, completing him with strikes in just 67 seconds. A rematch was expected to happen the following December, however Horiguchi was forced to the sidelines with a knee injury that also resulted in him relinquishing the Bellator bantamweight champion that he had won from Darrion Caldwell.
This will be Asakura’s very first title defense since winning a vacant belt with a first-round knockout of Hiromasa Ougikubo in August. He most just recently beat Shoji Maruyama by first-round TKO in a non-title bout.
Due to his injury, Horiguchi has actually not competed because his loss to Asakura. Given That March 2012, Horiguchi has actually won 22 of 24 fights, with his only other loss taking place at UFC 186 where he challenged Demetrious Johnson for the UFC flyweight champion.