There are reports that the president of RIZIN Nobuyuki Sakakibara is interested in having a meeting with Dana White in hopes of helping both Kyoji Horiguchi and Kai Asakura get signed with the promotion even if that means a loss of potential revenue for RIZIN.
Today, Rizin President Nobuyuki Sakakibara shows interest to have a meeting in early February with UFC President, Dana White.
He is looking to support Kyoji Horiguchi and Kai Asakura to try get a spot in UFC.
Sakakibara knows it’s not a easy move but he wants to talk with UFC… pic.twitter.com/wJzRTVEK2P
— Bruno Massami (Бруно Массами) (@BrMassami) January 18, 2024
The sale of Bellator to the PFL, opened the door for Kyoji Horiguchi to seek employment elsewhere but he is still under contract with RIZIN. However, RIZIN is allowing him to sign with their biggest competitor the UFC just so they can see their most prized competitors to reach their full potential on the biggest stage.
Kyoji Horiguchi is the former Bellator and RIZIN Bantamweight Champion and the current RIZIN Flyweight Champion who also used to fight for the UFC when he contended for the Flyweight championship when he lost to the former champion Demetrious Johnson back in 2015. He then went on to fight just three more times in the UFC until he eventually parted ways and signed with RIZIN.
Kai Asakura is the longtime RIZIN competitor who is the current RIZIN Bantamweight Champion and the former RIZIN Flyweight Champion. He is widely considered one of the top prospects from Japan and would be a huge addition to the UFC’s bantamweight division, especially with the UFC’s involvement in growing the sport and the UFC brand in Asia.
It remains to be seen if the UFC would be interested in bringing back Kyoji Horiguchi and adding Kai Asakura to an already stacked bantamweight division but they certainly would bring a ton of fans along with them for the ride.
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