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Kyoji Horiguchi has given up another belt following his major knee injury, but Bellator CEO Scott Coker will give him a chance to get it back
Kyoji Horiguchi has been through a challenging last few months. Two wins over Darrion Caldwell earlier in the year put him in a pretty nice position, but a huge upset loss to Kai Asakura in August halted his progress. Horiguchi was training for a rematch with Asakura to take place on New Years Eve, but he suffered a devastating knee injury and will be on the shelf for a long time.
The injury led Horiguchi to vacate his Rizin belt (Asakura beat him in a non-title fight). And now he has been forced to give up his Bellator bantamweight title as well. The promotion announced the move in a press release earlier today and Bellator CEO echoed the statement on social media, promising Horiguchi the chance to get his belt back as soon as he’s ready:
Gutted for @kyoji1012 about the injury he suffered to his knee, but in the true spirit of martial arts & being a true champion, he has elected to vacate his title & allow the division to move forward in his absence. After fully healing, we plan to give him an immediate title shot pic.twitter.com/3Cw96owz7F
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) November 27, 2019
Horiguchi (28-3) is expected to be out for 10-12 months recovering from the torn ligaments. Bellator hasn’t said what they’ll do with the belt as of yet, but you’d have to figure that Caldwell will be in the mix for it in the near future.