Patrick Mix Vows to Put Kyoji Horiguchi Away in Three or Four Minutes

Patrick Mix doesn’t think much of his next opponent in the Bellator MMA bantamweight grand prix.

The former King of the Cage champion is expected to face Kyoji Horiguchi in the tournament's opening round, which will go down at Bellator 279 on April 23. Mix (15-1, 5-1 Bellator) secured a place in the grand prix after choking out James Gallagher thanks to a guillotine in the third period of their Bellator 270 encounter. While talking with Sherdog, “Patchy” confessed that he doesn’t expect anything unusual coming from Horiguchi, who has never faced a fighter like the Mix, in the American’s opinion.

“I expect just to pressure him, and then eventually, I think we’ll get into a clinch, or I’ll get an underhook. I don’t know, he’ll get his head underneath me or something. I don’t know. Then, I think I’ll eventually just take his neck. I don’t think he has much to offer technique-wise. I don’t think he has been able to get that much better than the fights I’ve seen. He’s fought basically everyone that knows how to lose. I don’t really know how to lose. I’m gonna probably go out there and put him away in like three or four minutes.”

Mix also revealed that he didn’t bother to watch the championship clash between Horiguchi and Sergio Pettis at Bellator 272 in December. Per Mix, that fight didn’t say much about the Japanese fighter’s weaknesses, which “Patchy” means to exploit in every possible way.

“I was there live, but I didn’t watch it, I haven’t watched it back since, you know? I’m not really too interested in it. Yes, them two guys were doing karate with each other, you know what I mean? I’m gonna be trying to fight him, so I’m trying to take him down. I’m not here to kind of just do a whole karate fight, you know?”

Mix also discussed his fight with Gallagher in Dublin, expressed his thoughts on dealing with his opponents’ trash-talking, and more.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(00:32) Training camp
(01:37) His corner
(02:00) Expectation for the fight
(03:00) Not watching Horiguchi’s fight with Pettis
(04:25) His pick for his opponent if he gets to the grand prix final
(04:52) Facing the animosity while fighting in Dublin
(05:39) Dealing with Gallagher’s annoying trash-talking
(07:30) His walkout song
(08:10) Outro

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and now he covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.