In the main event of UFC 310 next weekend, dominant flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja defends his title against former RIZIN bantamweight king and promotional newcomer Kai Asakura.
A true student of the game, 'The Cannibal' now teams up with Kai Asakura's infamous rival and one of the most legendary Japanese fighters of all time, Kyoji Horiguchi.
Photo by Masashi Hara/Getty Images
Alexandre Pantoja teams up with Kyoji Horiguchi while training for UFC 310
As revealed in the UFC 310 Countdown documentary, which premiered on YouTube earlier this morning, Alexandre Pantoja has teamed up with Japanese MMA icon Kyoji Horiguchi to help him prepare for his next title defense.
Horiguchi is the current RIZIN Flyweight Champion and is tied 1-1 with Asakura; after being brutally knocked out in their first fight in 2019, only to get that knockout finish back when they reunited in 2020.
“Kyoji is one of the best [sparring] partners I've had my whole life,” Pantoja celebrated, saying he “learned a lot” from both training with Horiguchi and watching his two fights with his upcoming title challenger.
'He's a samurai, a great guy [and it’s] a great opportunity to train with him. I've seen Kyoji fight Kai twice, and in one of them [fights]he won, he defeated Horiguchi… That for me, someone who can beat Kyoji is someone who has a lot of power; but in their next fight, Kyoji killed that guy.”
Horiguchi has had an illustrious 38-fight career, competing in the UFC (7-1), Bellator (2-2-1) and RIZIN promotions (13-1).
'Kai, he has a good track record [and is] a dangerous fighter, but I believe Pantoja is on another level,” the legendary Japanese superstar acknowledged, teasing that the Brazilian “can finish [the fight] from everywhere.”
Veteran coach Marcos 'Parrumpinha' Da Matta was also keen to celebrate the partnership between Pantoja and Horiguchi; especially with such a dangerous common opponent lurking around the corner.
“Kai was a guy who's been on our radar for a while, he's 1-1 against Kyoji, so that's why we studied him before and now we're studying him even more. Kai Asakura is a dangerous fighter, he is big and tall, comes from a higher weight class, so that is a challenge for all of us.
“Pantoja is a complete fighter; It will be five rounds [of him] in your face and trying to finish every second of the fight. – I believe he will be ready to show why he is the No. 1 flyweight in the world.”
UFC 310 is packed with world-class talent from top to bottom
While the welterweight title fight between Belal Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov will unfortunately not feature on the final PPV of the year, UFC 310 is still stacked from top to bottom.
- Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura
- Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ian Machado Garry
- Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
- Bryce Mitchell vs. Kron Gracie
- Nate Landwehr vs. Dooho Choi
- Dominick Reyes vs. Anthony Smith
- Vicente Luque vs Themba Gorimbo
- Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Randy Brown vs. Bryan Battle
- Chris Weidman vs. Eryk Anders
- Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van
- Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin
- Clay Guida vs. Chase Hooper
- Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Lukasz Brzeski
UFC 310 airs live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, December 7.
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