Kyoji Horiguchi is coming back from the Manel Kape knockout against one of the hardest outs at 125 pounds. MMA Sucka reported that Horiguchi will fight Asu Almabayev at the UFC’s Qatar event in November, and Cageside Press has the bout down for November 21. Cageside’s rankings list Almabayev at No. 5 and Horiguchi at No. 8.
Horiguchi (36-6) is 9-2 across his two UFC runs and 2-1 since coming back. He spent close to a decade outside the promotion, and for most of that stretch he carried the label of best flyweight not in the UFC. The return went the way he wanted at first. He stopped Tagir Ulanbekov in late 2025, then beat Amir Albazi on the cards in February. In June he headlined against Kape, and Yahoo’s Sportsnaut rankings scored him as probably up two rounds before Kape’s speed and power took over. MMA Fighting had it as a third-round knockout. A win there might have put Horiguchi in a title fight this year. Instead he’s rebuilding.
Almabayev (22-3) came over from M1 and Brave CF on a 13-fight win streak and kept it going through his first four UFC fights, with Matheus Nicolau and Ode Osbourne among the names. Then came Kape in March 2025, a loss Cageside described as somewhat controversial and his first defeat in eight years. Since then he’s beaten Jose Ochoa and stopped Charles Johnson and Alex Perez. The Perez win was a submission, and Perez is about as stubborn a top-15 gatekeeper as the division has. Cageside puts him at 7-1 in the Octagon.
Kape is the common thread, which is a little funny. The man who beat both of them now gets the belt shot. The UFC announced during the UFC 333 broadcast that champion Joshua Van (18-2) defends against Kape (23-7) at UFC 336 on Jan. 30, 2027 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Kape has won four straight by knockout according to Yahoo (MMA Fighting counts five straight finishes). Whoever wins in Qatar becomes a logical next name for the Van vs. Kape winner. Cageside already has a plan for the loser, too. It suggested Ramazan Temirov (20-3), who took the first knockout loss of his career against Lone’er Kavanagh at UFC 333 and hadn’t lost since 2019.
My pick is Almabayev. Horiguchi is still one of the smartest movers the weight class has ever had, and those first two rounds against Kape looked like the old Kyoji, light on his feet and picking his spots. But he faded against a guy pressing him late. Almabayev doesn’t need the knockout to win, and the Perez submission tells you he can finish a fight on the mat when someone tires. If Horiguchi is still ahead going into Round 3 on November 21, I’ll happily eat this one. I just think Almabayev wins the last 10 minutes and takes a decision.
