Kyoji Horiguchi is not in the camp that Aljamain Sterling shouldn’t have been awarded a win at UFC 273.
The Rizin FF champion and former Bellator title holder believes Sterling did enough to get the nod from the judges this past Saturday to defend his 135-pound title against Petr Yan. It was a closely contested rematch as Sterling defeated Yan by split decision 48-47, 47-48, 48-47.
“I think that time Sterling (won) because I know how to score,” Horiguchi told MMA Junkie. “I think that time Sterling win. Then he is a win. It was a good fight.”
Although Horiguchi (29-4 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) thinks Sterling was the rightful winner, the Japanese star doesn’t think Sterling looked great in his first UFC title defense.
“Yeah, I watched that fight. It was a very funny fight, you know, because Sterling almost gassed out,” Horiguchi said. “He held the back two rounds, three rounds. Then he going to win by points. It was like not strong look like it. It was just point the game.”
Horiguchi returns to action April 23 as he’s scheduled to face Patchy Mix at Bellator 279. The fight is part of the Bellator bantamweight grand prix. Horiguchi is coming off a knockout loss to champion Sergio Pettis, which went down last December.
Kyoji Horiguchi sees Aljamain Sterling as rightful UFC 273 winner but says he didn’t look strong