Great writeup! I really appreciate the historical context going into this sleeper of a main event in...the Apex, of all places.
I remember covering Horiguchi's otherwise surprisingly great Shooto rookie class in 2010, with Horiguchi winning the rookie MVP award that year on top of winning his 132-pound rookie tournament final. It was an outstanding squash of a match, which is not something that often happened with these rookies turned pros in their tourney finals.
About a week later, I swung by Krazy Bee to hang out and pick up some photos for a feature I was doing on his gym mate, Kotetsu Boku. Dude was already back in the gym, putting in work because he looked, for all intents and purposes, fresh--like he hadn't just fought. At the time, I was already quite worried about the future of Japanese MMA (understandable, as it was the post-Pride days of Dream and Sengoku), but Horiguchi was one of the few young talents that gave me hope.
It's been so long since then. I hope Horiguchi does well this turn in the UFC, and that he can once again rekindle my lifelong dream of seeing a Shootor win UFC gold.
God, I haven’t thought about Kotetsu Boku in years. That is an insanely cool experience, thank you for sharing it, I am immediately envious, and it somehow does not surprise me at all that Kyoji has been this way since day one.
I, too, am in the Kyoji Horiguchi 2027 Champ prayer circle. It’s time, goddammit.
Great writeup! I really appreciate the historical context going into this sleeper of a main event in...the Apex, of all places.
I remember covering Horiguchi's otherwise surprisingly great Shooto rookie class in 2010, with Horiguchi winning the rookie MVP award that year on top of winning his 132-pound rookie tournament final. It was an outstanding squash of a match, which is not something that often happened with these rookies turned pros in their tourney finals.
About a week later, I swung by Krazy Bee to hang out and pick up some photos for a feature I was doing on his gym mate, Kotetsu Boku. Dude was already back in the gym, putting in work because he looked, for all intents and purposes, fresh--like he hadn't just fought. At the time, I was already quite worried about the future of Japanese MMA (understandable, as it was the post-Pride days of Dream and Sengoku), but Horiguchi was one of the few young talents that gave me hope.
It's been so long since then. I hope Horiguchi does well this turn in the UFC, and that he can once again rekindle my lifelong dream of seeing a Shootor win UFC gold.
God, I haven’t thought about Kotetsu Boku in years. That is an insanely cool experience, thank you for sharing it, I am immediately envious, and it somehow does not surprise me at all that Kyoji has been this way since day one.
I, too, am in the Kyoji Horiguchi 2027 Champ prayer circle. It’s time, goddammit.