Kyoji Horiguchi got his revenge.
On Sunday, Horiguchi faced off with Sergio Pettis at the Yoyogi National Stadium in the main event of RIZIN 47 in Tokyo, winning a unanimous decision victory to avenge his 2021 loss to Pettis in Bellator.
Horiguchi and Pettis first fought each other in 2021 at Bellator 272, where Pettis pulled off a spinning backfist knockout to claim the Bellator bantamweight title after losing much of the first three rounds. A similar dynamic took place in this matchup as Horiguchi mixed his striking and wrestling to great effect, keeping Pettis off balance and winning the first two rounds.
Things heated up in the third round though as Pettis came on strong, even managing to knock Horiguchi down with a short hook as the RIZIN flyweight champion charged in. Horiguchi survived the bad spot though and took home a unanimous decision on the cards.
Check out highlights of the main event below.
In the co-main event, former Bellator and RIZIN bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta was submitted by former RIZIN featherweight champion Kleber Koike Erbst with a a slick heel hook submission.
Archuleta caught a lazy kick from Erbst to score a takedown, but Erbst immediately rolled to attack the legs, and after a funky scramble, the Japanese fighter found a heel hook to swiftly secure the tap out from Archuleta.
Elsewhere on the card, Przemyslaw Kowalczyk pulled off a nifty armbar on Mikio Ueda, moving the 25-year-old undefeated heavyweight prospect to 4-0 in his professional career, Razhabali Shaydullaaev moved to 10-0 with a first-round rear-naked choke against Koji Takeda, and Bellator veteran Spike Carlyle got back to his winning ways with a first-round rear-naked choke of Kyung Pyo Kim.
Check out the rest of the RIZIN 47 highlights and full results below.
Main Card
- Kyoji Horiguchi def. Sergio Pettis via unanimous decision
- Bleber Koike Erbst def. Juan Archuleta via submission (heel hook) — Round 1, 2:08
- Przemyslaw Kowalczyk def. Mikio Ueda via submission (armbar) — Round 1, 2:08
- Razhabali Shaydullaev def. Koji Takeda via submission (rear-naked choke) — Round 1, 4:43
- Spike Carlyle def. Kyung Pyo Kim via submission (rear-naked choke) — Round 3, 1:11
- Karshyga Dautbek def. Tetsuya Seki via KO (body shot) — Round 1, 3:11
- Noah Bey def. Johnny Case via unanimous decision
- Genji Umeno def. Mamoru Uoi via unanimous decision (modified kickboxing match)
- Sho Patrick Usami def. Kazuki Tokudome via TKO (punches) — Round 1, 2:29
