UFC Qatar video: Kyoji Horiguchi drops Tagir Ulanbekov with head kick, puts him to sleep with rear-naked choke

Welcome back to the UFC, Kyoji Horiguchi.

The one-time flyweight title challenger, who hasn’t fought in the octagon in nine years, made his return with an emphatic finish over Tagir Ulanbekov at UFC Qatar on Saturday.

The always exciting former Bellator and RIZIN champion came out guns blazing and really took the fight to Ulanbekov. Finally in the third round with Ulanbekov clearly fading, Horiguchi blasted him with a head kick that scored a knockdown and he quickly jumped on a rear-naked choke submission.

Horiguchi tightened his grip and Ulanbekov went to sleep before he could tap out. The end came at 2:18 in the third round.

“I feel really good right now,” Horiguchi said after the win. “Because I come back to UFC. This is my dream!”

Horiguchi had to deal with some adversity early with Ulanbekov towering over him with a significant height and reach advantage. But once Horiguchi found his range, he was really starting to give Ulanbekov problems with a slick striking attack coupled with a dominant grappling game.

As the third round got started, Ulanbekov was running on fumes and Horiguchi clearly smelled blood in the water.

That’s when he unleashed a beautiful head kick that cracked Ulanbekov and sent him down to the canvas. Horiguchi continued to punch away at him until he found the opening to lock on the rear-naked choke as he put Ulanbekov to sleep.

With the win, Horiguchi jumps right into the thick of things in the 125-pound division and he wasted no time calling out his teammate and frequent training partner Alexandre Pantoja, who reigns as the current UFC flyweight champion.

“Where’s Pantoja?” Horiguchi shouted. “He’s my teammate but it doesn’t matter. I will beat your ass! A fight is a fight, it’s business.”