Urijah Faber will compete outside of America for the first time in his 39th MMA fight, and he will be welcoming a longtime MMA veteran to the Octagon.
Masanori Kanehara, a former Sengoku featherweight champion, has signed with the UFC and is set to make his Octagon debut against “The California Kid” at the UFC Fight Night 52 card in Saitama, Japan, on Sept. 20. FightSportAsia first reported the bout.
Kanehara (23-11-5) enters the UFC coming off a DQ loss in Japan, which snapped a six-fight winning streak. All of his recent victories came with stoppages, five of them in the first round. Kanehara holds wins over Michihiro Omigawa, “Kid” Yamamoto and Chan Sung Jung in his MMA career.
Faber (31-7) impressed once again in his last UFC appearance, choking out Alex Caceres in the third round at UFC 175. The former WEC champion won five of the last six UFC bouts, finishing Michael McDonald, Scott Jorgensen and Ivan Menjivar.
The current UFN 52 fight card, which airs live on UFC Fight Pass, is the following:
Mark Hunt vs. Roy Nelson
Urijah Faber vs. Masanori Kanehara
Miesha Tate vs. Rin Nakai
Myles Jury vs. Takanori Gomi
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Kyle Noke
Sam Sicilia vs. Katsunori Kikuno
John Case vs. Kazuki Tokudome
Maximo Blanco vs. Daniel Hooker
Hyun Gyu Lim vs. Takenori Sato
Kiichi Kunimoto vs. Richard Walsh
Michinori Tanaka vs. Kyung Ho Kang