Kyoji Horiguchi vs Patchy Mix added to Bellator 279 lineup
We have a pair of bantamweight contests added to Bellator 279, one of which is a title fight, and the other a supposed No. 1 contender bout.
Headlining the card, the championship bout of course, is Bellator bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis, who looks to make the second-straight defense of his title in the main event of the evening opposing No. 3 ranked Raufeon Stots.
Co-headlining the event is former Rizin & Bellator bantamweight champion, No. 5 ranked Kyoji Horiguchi, who aims to take out No. 2 ranked Patchy Mix, which is the bout we’ll be speaking about today.
Kyoji Horiguchi has had quite a remarkable career thus far into it.
Starting out his combat tenure with Shotokan Karate, which he now boasts a 2nd-degree black belt in, Horiguchi is an incredibly skilled talent. He’s as fast as they come, he’s very technical, and he has a wealth of power behind all of his strikes.
Not only that, but his offensive wrestling is very good as well, along with his footwork.
We’d expect that out of a karate expert.
Horiguchi came to the UFC back in 2013 with a record of 11-1. He was already a Shooto bantamweight champion, having won and defended the belt prior to joining. By time his UFC career was all said and done, he’d gone 7-1 within the promotion, only losing to Demetrious Johnson when he challenged for the UFC flyweight championship.
What’s more, he left the UFC on a three-fight win streak, and went undefeated through the next three years, laying claim to the Rizin bantamweight championship, as well as the Bellator bantamweight championship.
He was then knocked out by Kai Asakura, before winning the rematch via knockout, reclaiming his Rizin throne.
Only after that, he’d return to Bellator to challenge Sergio Pettis for the same championship he was forced to vacate.
After absolutely mauling Pettis for the entirety of the fight, Horiguchi was knocked out with a spinning-back-fist over halfway through the fourth round. After winning over 18-straight minutes of the fight, it was all taken from him in a literal split second.
To be fair, this awarded Pettis Comeback of the Year honors under five media outlets. Horiguchi was straight up dominant in this fight from start to unfortunate finish.
Patchy Mix on the other hand is a former KOTC bantamweight champion, having submitted both Andre Ewell and Tony Gravely in his first two title bouts, both talents of which are in the UFC right now.
Once making his way to Bellator, Mix won his first two bouts via submission, before doing the same in a Rizin cross-promotion bout. He was then awarded a title shot at then champion Juan Archuleta, who defeated him via unanimous decision.
Mix has since gone 2-0, again, securing back-to-back submission victories in his last two outings, defeating Albert Morales and James Gallagher. Morales is also a UFC veteran, and Gallagher is a wicked grappler. It’s really something to have submitted someone like him.
Kyoji Horiguchi comes into the bout ranked at No. 5 with a record of 29-4, while Mix comes in ranked at No. 2 with a record of 15-1.
Of Horiguchi’s 29 wins, 15 come via knockout, with 3 submissions and 11 decisions.
Of Mix’s 15 wins, one comes via knockout, with 11 submissions and 3 decisions.
Who wins this epic bantamweight contest going down at Bellator 279?
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