Amir Albazi and Kyoji Horiguchi meet in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 266 on Saturday at Meta APEX in Las Vegas. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
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Last event’s results: 3-2
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UFC main cards, 2026: 6-4
Amir Albazi vs. Kyoji Horiguchi UFC Fight Night 266 preview
After a lengthy layoff, Albazi (17-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) will look to rebound from a decision loss against two-time former champ Brandon Moreno in November 2024. That result was his first setback in the UFC. Albazi won his first five fights in the promotion, including soppages of Malcolm Gordon, Francisco Figueiredo and Alessandro Costa.
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Horiguchi (35-5 MMA, 8-1 UFC) enters the second fight of his second UFC run. In his first fight back in November, Horiguchi submitted Tagir Ulanbekov in the third round. His current winning streak totals six, plus one no contest.
Amir Albazi vs. Kyoji Horiguchi UFC Fight Night 266 expert pick, prediction
The co-main event in Las Vegas features a flyweight fight between Amir Albazi and Kyoji Horiguchi.
Although I’m happy to see Horiguchi in a co-main slot as opposed to being buried on the prelims, I can’t help but still feel irked that the matchmakers are giving him an arguable no-win matchup in the Apex.
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Despite not disagreeing that Horiguchi should be favored to win here, Albazi, when at his best, can be a fighter who is hard to look good against in victory or defeat.
It’s hard to know where Albazi is at given his health issues and subsequent layoffs in recent years, which leads me even more to side with the proven elite product in Horiguchi.
I know flyweight is in a bit of a logjam as is, but I hope they stop wasting elite fighters’ primes and post-primes (a la Horiguchi here, Volkanovski last week, as well as fighters like Jose Aldo and Dominick Cruz from yesteryear) with next-to-meaningless matchups.
The pick is Horiguchi by unanimous decision.
Amir Albazi vs. Kyoji Horiguchi UFC Fight Night 266 odds
The oddsmakers and the public heavily favor the Japanese fighter, listing Horiguchi -420 and Albazi +310 via FanDuel.
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Amir Albazi vs. Kyoji Horiguchi UFC Fight Night 266 start time, how to watch
Albazi and Horiguichi are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 10:10 p.m. ET. The fight streams live on Paramount+.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Vegas 113: Amir Albazi vs. Kyoji Horiguchi prediction, time
