Scott Coker explains what’s next for Kyoji Horiguchi in Bellator
Kyoji Horiguchi is the RIZIN and Bellator champion but is coming off of a shocking knockout loss in RIZIN. There, the title was not on the line.
Why the fight happened or was not a title fight, Coker says he can’t talk about it.
“I can’t talk about why that fight happened or how it happened because I really wasn’t aware of the situation,” Bellator president Scott Coker said to MMA Fighting. “I just knew it wasn’t a title fight. That’s the beauty of this sport. I think Horiguchi probably underestimated the opponent a little bit and thought he’d just take it to him and the guy comes out and knocks him out. That’s MMA. You never know what’s going to happen.”
Now, with Kyoji Horiguchi losing, he will need to rematch Kai Asakura later this year where the title is on the line. Then, the plan is if Horiguhci wins to defend the Bellator title next. But, if he loses, then Asakura would have a trilogy bout in Bellator for the Bellator title.
“I believe [Rizin] wants to have a title fight sometime in the fall,” Coker revealed. “They’ll have a title fight and I think eventually Horiguchi, if he wins, will come here and defend his belt and if not the other guy will come and he’ll have to fight Horiguchi, maybe he’ll have to come fight Horiguchi under the cage rules with Bellator rules and see what happens.
“It’s a little bit complicated but at the end of the day, the champ’s going to come over and he’ll fight whoever the top contender is, whether it’s a Japanese fighter, or whatever, we’ll have a great fight for him.”
Regardless, Scott Coker expects Kyoji Horiguchi to defend his bantamweight title sometime early next year with an opponent unknown at this time.
