Home
UFC Fight Night 266: Bautista bounces back, Horiguchi stalks flyweight glory

UFC Fight Night 266: Bautista bounces back, Horiguchi stalks flyweight glory

Web Desk
2 Hours ago

LAS VEGAS: Redemption was the theme at UFC Fight Night 266 on Saturday, as fighters returned to Las Vegas’ Meta APEX with everything to prove. Headlining the bantamweight bout, Mario Bautista silenced any doubts about his grappling after a tough loss to Umar Nurmagomedov last October, submitting rising star Vinicius Oliveira with a perfectly timed rear-naked choke late in the second round.

Bautista, who had seen his eight-fight win streak snapped, wasted no time showing he’s back on track. Oliveira, who had built his reputation on striking with 16 KO wins, surprisingly leaned into grappling early – likely hoping to exploit Bautista’s previous defeat, but Bautista was ready for every attempt. Five takedowns out of seven, smooth positional control, and a finish that left the crowd roaring confirmed that Bautista is recalibrated and hungry for the top five of the UFC’s notoriously stacked bantamweight division.

“I had that fully locked in, he wasn’t going anywhere,” Bautista said after the fight. Already thinking ahead, he called for a rematch against Cory Sandhagen, the man who defeated him in his UFC debut in 2019.

Elsewhere on the card, Japanese flyweight veteran Kyoji Horiguchi continued his resurgence with a methodical unanimous decision over Amir Albazi. Horiguchi, now 36-5 in MMA, demonstrated why his return to the UFC has fans buzzing: his speed and movement consistently outmaneuvered Albazi, allowing him to land precise counters and frustrate his opponent’s attempts to close distance. With this win, Horiguchi has now bested both Albazi and Tagir Ulanbekov since returning, setting his sights firmly on a title shot more than a decade after his first championship run.

The night also delivered dramatic finishes and big checks. Poland’s Jakub Wiklacz pulled off a heart-stopping guillotine choke with just one second left in his catchweight bout, securing a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus. Heavyweight Rizvan Kuniev, middleweight Michal Oleksiejczuk, and bantamweight Farid Basharat kept the energy high, while finish bonuses went to Nikolay Veretennikov and Dustin Jacoby for emphatic stoppages.

While Oliveira’s six-fight streak came to an abrupt halt, reportedly hampered by a brutal 50-pound weight cut, the event underscored that in the UFC, momentum is fleeting, and comebacks are always around the corner. From Bautista’s calculated grappling to Horiguchi’s slick flyweight dominance, UFC Fight Night 266 reminded fans that redemption isn’t just a storyline—it’s the octagon’s favorite narrative.