Kyoji Horiguchi returns to UFC in rematch with Manel Kape
Kyoji Horiguchi’s return to the UFC brought a rare rematch with Manel Kape, a top-five flyweight clash with title stakes and a second chapter nine years in the making.
Kyoji Horiguchi’s UFC return put immediate pressure on the flyweight division’s front edge, with a rematch against Manel Kape carrying more than nostalgia. The five-round main event at UFC Fight Night 279 at Meta APEX in Las Vegas paired the No. 2 and No. 6 flyweights in a bout the UFC framed as a title-level test.
The fight mattered because the division has little room for uncertainty at the top. Kape entered with the sharper current UFC ranking, and Horiguchi arrived after nearly a decade away from the promotion, making the matchup both a reset and a referendum. For Kape, the assignment was about proving he belonged one win away from a championship opportunity. For Horiguchi, it was a chance to show that the long absence from the Octagon had not dulled the speed, timing and composure that once made him a major force.
Their first meeting came in December 2017 under the RIZIN banner, when Horiguchi submitted Kape in the third round. That result gave the rematch an obvious edge: Kape had the chance to answer an old loss on a bigger stage, while Horiguchi could prove that the first win was no one-off and that he remained a legitimate contender in a division defined by constant movement.
The UFC’s June 20 lineup at Meta APEX in Las Vegas was built around that stakes piece. Prelims were scheduled for 5 p.m. ET, 2 p.m. PT, with the main card at 8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. PT on Paramount+. The card also featured Ion Cutelaba against Navajo Stirling in the co-main event, and three newly added fights helped fill out the UFC Vegas 119 slate.
What was on the line went beyond rankings. A win for Kape would strengthen a case for a title shot in a crowded class where every contender is measured against the champion’s next available challenger. A win for Horiguchi would reinsert him into that conversation immediately, turning a return bout into a legitimate run at the belt. In a flyweight division that has been searching for clarity, Kape-Horiguchi stood as the kind of fight that could redraw the order at the top.
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