Bellator officially has a men’s flyweight division – but it still doesn’t have a champion.
The division’s inaugural title fight ended in a no contest Sunday after [autotag]Kyoji Horiguchi[/autotag] accidentally poked [autotag]Makoto Shinryu[/autotag] in his left eye. The poke happened just 25 seconds into the first round of the Bellator x Rizin 2 co-main event at Saitama Super Arena near Tokyo.
Anticlímax total!😕
Após um golpe acidental no olho do Makoto "Shinryu" Takahashi, luta contra Kyoji Horiguchi fica sem resultado.
Você acompanha o Bellator x Rizin 2 ao vivo e com exclusividade na minha tela. Assine já! (link na bio). #BellatorNoCombate #RizinNoCombate #MMA pic.twitter.com/wnApsydB83
— Combate (@combate) July 30, 2023
Tough start to this fight for @makoto0705mma after an accidental eye poke from @kyoji1012.#BellatorXRizin is LIVE@SHOsports 🇺🇸 / @UNEXT_fight 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/MJYkgagqQJ
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) July 30, 2023
To his credit, Shinryu took the entire five minutes to try and recover but ultimately couldn’t continue, forcing referee Jason Herzog to stop the fight and rule it a no contest.
It’s an especially unfortunate conclusion for Horiguchi, Bellator’s former banamweight champion, as he was looking to win a second division title in his home country.