Kyoji Horiguchi won’t be making his return to the UFC in June after all.
The Japanese star, and one-time UFC flyweight title challenger, was originally scheduled to compete at the UFC Baku card on June 21 as the promotion lands in Azerbaijan for the first time. Unfortunately, Horiguchi is no longer expected to compete on the card after he was removed from his fight against Tagir Ulanbekov for undisclosed reasons.
In his place steps Azat Maksum, who accepts the fight with Ulanbekov on short notice with the fight taking place in four weeks’ time.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Monday following an initial report from Red Corner MMA.
It’s an unfortunate delay for Horiguchi, and probably a disappointing switch for Ulanbekov as well, as the flyweight veteran trained under Khabib Nurmagomedov misses out on a significant fight for the division.
Instead, Ulanbekov draws Maksum, who comes into the fight with a 1-1 record in the UFC including a win over Tyson Nam and a loss to Charles Johnson.
The fight serves as Ulanbekov’s opportunity to notch a fourth win in a row overall after he’s taken out Clayton Carpenter, Cody Durden and Nate Maness in consecutive fights.
The UFC Baku card takes place on June 21 with former light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill taking on Khalil Rountree Jr. in the main event.
Mike Heck contributed to this report
