{"id":460171,"date":"2026-02-05T13:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T13:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/460171\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T13:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T13:54:09","slug":"its-about-which-one-is-strongest-which-one-is-the-best-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/460171\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s About Which One Is Strongest, Which One Is The Best In The World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Bellator<\/a> and RIZIN champion Kyoji Horiguchi wants to lock horns with his good friend and American Top Team teammate Alexandre Pantoja.<\/p>\n

\u2018Karate Kid\u2019 made his much-awaited UFC return in 2025 at UFC Qatar and submitted <\/a>Tagir Ulanbekov in the third round of their flyweight bout. After that win, the 35-year-old demanded a title shot. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

At that time, Pantoja was the flyweight kingpin. But, later that year, the Brazilian was dethroned at UFC 323 by Joshua Van after \u2018The Cannibal\u2019 dislocated his shoulder<\/a> in the first minute of the opening stanza.<\/p>\n

Alexandre Pantoja deserves an immediate title rematch and is already back in the gym. Meanwhile, top contenders Tatsuro Taira and Manel Kape, after their recent wins, are also itching to fight for the UFC flyweight title.<\/p>\n

Kyoji Horiguchi, on the other hand, will return to the octagon<\/a> this weekend against Amir Albazi at UFC Fight Night 266. A huge win over the No. 6-ranked Albazi could firmly place the No. 8-ranked \u2018Karate Kid\u2019 in the title conversation.<\/p>\n

Kyoji Horiguchi wants to Face Teammate Alexandre Pantoja, believes \u2018The Cannibal\u2019 can reclaim the title by dethroning Joshua Van<\/p>\n

On UFC Fight Night 266 media day, Kyoji Horiguchi appeared in an interview with MMA Junkie, where he once again called out Alexandre Pantoja. He is confident that Pantoja can reclaim the title and hopes that after that, the two could fight. However, the 35-year-old also added that if he wins the belt first, then Pantoja would be welcome to challenge him.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, he [Alexandre Pantoja] can do it [win back title], and I can challenge him, or I get the belt first, and then he challenges me. That\u2019s a good story. I want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horiguchi wants to enter the octagon opposite Pantoja to find out who the best flyweight in the world is. He added:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just friendly. It\u2019s about which one is strongest, which one is the best in the world at flyweight. In training, it\u2019s a little bit fake. That\u2019s why I want to do it in the UFC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out Kyoji Horiguchi\u2019s comments below (3:27):<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Pantoja has stated that he is targeting a return by the end of summer. <\/p>\n

Before his title loss at UFC 323, Pantoja had praised Kyoji Horiguchi after hearing his callout. \u2018The Cannibal\u2019 admitted that Horiguchi has helped him in his journey to become champion, and \u201cit\u2019s going to be a privilege\u201d to face \u2018Karate Kid\u2019 someday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Bellator and RIZIN champion Kyoji Horiguchi wants to lock horns with his good friend and American Top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-460171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}