Filed under: News, UFC
A key flyweight matchup between former UFC title challengers has been booked for UFC Fight Night 99.
MMAjunkie today confirmed with UFC officials that Russia’s Ali Bagautinov (14-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) will face Japan’s Kyoji Horiguchi (17-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) at the event.
The contest was first set to take place at UFC Fight 97 in the Philippines but had to be moved after that card was scrapped. SportsJOE.ie first reported the new date for the contest, and UFC officials are expected to make a formal announcement soon.
Horiguchi is currently ranked No. 4 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA flyweight rankings. Bagautinov is No. 6.
UFC Fight Night 99 takes place Nov. 19 at SSE Arena in Belfast, and the entire card streams on UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized. It’s the first of two cards on Nov. 19; UFC Fight Night 100 takes place later in the day in Brazil.
Bagautinov fought for the belt at UFC 174 in June 2014, losing a decision to Demetrious Johnson. Afterward, he tested positive for the performance-enhancing substance erythropoietin (EPO) and was suspended for a full year. He came up short in his October 2015 return against Joseph Benavidez but most recently rebounded with a UFC Fight Night 89 decision win over Geane Herrera.
Meanwhile, Horiguchi was submitted by champ Johnson with one second remaining in their UFC 186 fight in April 2015. He’s since bounced back with victories over Neil Seery and Chico Camus and is now 11-1 in his past 12 contests.
With the addition to the card, UFC Fight Night 99 now includes:
- Dong Hyun Kim vs. Gunnar Nelson
- Amanda Cooper vs. Anna Elmose
- Ian McCall vs. Neil Seery
- James Krause vs. Ross Pearson
- Zak Cummings vs. Alexander Yakovlev
- Kevin Lee vs. Magomed Mustafaev
- Mark Godbeer vs. Justin Ledet
- Timothy Johnson vs. Alexander Volkov
- Teruto Ishihara vs. Artem Lobov
- Magnus Cedenblad vs. Jack Marshman
- Milana Dudieva vs. Marion Reneau
- Ali Bagautinov vs. Kyoji Horiguchi
For more on UFC Fight Night 99, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
Filed under: News, UFC
