And Melsik Baghdasaryan, who was on the wrong side of end of an epic highlight after getting caught in a rare twister submission by UFC newcomer, Murtazali Magomedov (see it again here). But, which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Unfortunately for the talented Japanese star, his time is going to have to wait a little bit longer.
After starting off the first two rounds with an intense pace and winning the majority of the exchanges, Horiguchi eventually found himself on the wrong end of a technical knockout loss himself after “Starboy” clipped him, dropped him and then finished the job off with some nasty ground-and-pound.
The loss left Horiguchi in a bad spot because a title fight will be even harder to come by after his seven-fight unbeaten streak went up in smoke. The division is only getting younger and stronger, so he will have his work cut out for him if he wants to work his way back into the picture, which is something he still intends on doing.
“Thank you all for your support. I got knocked out pretty badly. I’m truly sorry,” wrote Horiguchi via an Instagram post after the defeat. ”Kape was strong. Thank you! This is why I can’t quit martial arts.I’ll retrain and be back in no time! I’m not giving up on my dream yet.”
As far as what could be next for the 35-year-old fighter, a showdown against Brandon Moreno might be in order. Moreno, UFC’s former Flyweight champion, has seen better days himself, riding a two-fight losing streak after dropping back-to-back contests against former title challenger, Tatsuro Taira, and rising contender, Lone’er Kavanagh.
Moreno is hanging on to the No. 9 spot at the moment, but a win over someone as established and experienced in the game like Horiguchi would certainly take him up a few notches. As for Horiguchi, there is no telling how many spots he will drop in the rankings following this defeat, but a win over “The Baby Faced Assassin” would keep him lingering close to the Top 5 and his championship dreams alive a little bit longer.
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