Kyoji Horiguchi drops off UFC 169 card
An injury has forced Kyoji Horiguchi out of next month’s UFC 169 event, officials today announced.
A replacement hasn’t been secured for Horiguchi (12-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who was planning a move from bantamweight to flyweight at the event. Chris Cariaso (15-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) now awaits a new foe.
UFC 169 takes place Feb. 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Horiguchi vs. Cariaso was slated for the FOX Sports 1 prelims.
Horiguchi, a Shooto vet, was a late-replacement opponent for Dustin Pague in a bantamweight matchup at UFC 166, and Horiguchi responded with a second-round TKO victory. It marked his sixth straight win.
Cariaso, meanwhile, boasts 10 combined fights under the UFC and WEC banners, including a 2-2 mark at 125 pounds since dropping to the division in July 2012. Most recently, the 32-year-old earned an impressive second-round TKO win over Iliarde Santos at UFC Fight Night 29 in Brazil.
The latest UFC 169 card includes:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Champ Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber – for bantamweight title
Champ Jose Aldo vs. Ricardo Lamas – for featherweight title
Frank Mir vs. Alistair Overeem
Ali Bagautinov vs. John Lineker
Abel Trujillo vs. Jamie Varner
PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)
John Makdessi vs. Alan Patrick
Chris Cariaso vs. TBA
Nick Catone vs. Tom Watson
Al Iaquinta vs. Kevin Lee
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)
Andy Enz vs. Clint Hester
Rashid Magomedov vs. Tony Martin
Neil Magny vs. Gasan Umalatov
