Urijah Faber Draws Some Guy Who Threw His Last Opponent Out of the Ring for “Fight Night 52?


(Well that’ll teach him for not smelling what Kanehara was cooking. Photo by Lee Li/Sherdog) 

I must admit that I was a little puzzled by the UFC’s decision to book Urijah Faber against Alex Caceres at UFC 175. A surprising win streak Caceres may have been on, but Faber is basically the last guy anyone should face before they receive a title shot in the bantamweight division. Still, I appreciated the fight itself, and thought Caceres put up a hell of a fight before the inevitable inevitably happened.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to say the same for Masanori Kanehara, a onetime Sengoku champion who was recently booked to face Faber in his UFC debut at Fight Night 52: Hunt vs. Nelson. While on paper, Kanehara isn’t the least experienced fighter Faber has faced in recent years, he is perhaps the least known. Hell, the only thing I can remember him for was that time he got obliterated by Marlon Sandro to lose said Sangoku championship.

At 23-11-5, Kanehara’s record doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in his chances against Faber either. Nor does the fact that he lost his last fight. But when you learn of the circumstances behind Kanehara last loss, you begin to realize just how much trouble Faber might be in…


(Well that’ll teach him for not smelling what Kanehara was cooking. Photo by Lee Li/Sherdog) 

I must admit that I was a little puzzled by the UFC’s decision to book Urijah Faber against Alex Caceres at UFC 175. A surprising win streak Caceres may have been on, but Faber is basically the last guy anyone should face before they receive a title shot in the bantamweight division. Still, I appreciated the fight itself, and thought Caceres put up a hell of a fight before the inevitable inevitably happened.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to say the same for Masanori Kanehara, a onetime Sengoku champion who was recently booked to face Faber in his UFC debut at Fight Night 52: Hunt vs. Nelson. While on paper, Kanehara isn’t the least experienced fighter Faber has faced in recent years, he is perhaps the least known. Hell, the only thing I can remember him for was that time he got obliterated by Marlon Sandro to lose said Sangoku championship.

At 23-11-5, Kanehara’s record doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in his chances against Faber either. Nor does the fact that he lost his last fight. But when you learn of the circumstances behind Kanehara last loss, you begin to realize just how much trouble Faber might be in…

Why? Because Kanehara threw his last opponent out of the f*cking ring, that’s why. Although the official status of his loss has been changed from DQ (Fighter Thrown From Ring) to DQ (Technical Foul) in the time since I began writing this article, you better believe that Kanehara is a follower of the 12OzCurls Rules of MMA, and will surely lift Faber into the heavens before delivering him to the soil (canvas) with such force that his spine is rendered INTO A JELLY. Oh yes, Tater Nation, an upset of the century is surely at hand! BY THE MORN OF 21 SEPTEMBER, YOU WILL ALL KNOW THE NAME KANEHARA!! KA-NE-HA-RA! KA-NE-HA-RA!!!!

I kid. Faber is going to wreck this poor guy.

J. Jones

‘Soul of Fight’ Videos, Part 1: Okuno vs. Chonan, Maeda vs. Kanehara, Nakamura vs. Enomoto

(Taisuke Okuno vs. Ryo Chonan. Fight starts at the 1:30 mark. Props: DJSexStyle via MiddleEasy)
Some highlights from today’s stoppage-heavy Sengoku show. Above, Ryo Chonan gets put to bed in just 19 seconds. After the jump: The brief but ferocious slug…

(Taisuke Okuno vs. Ryo Chonan. Fight starts at the 1:30 mark. Props: DJSexStyle via MiddleEasy)

Some highlights from today’s stoppage-heavy Sengoku show. Above, Ryo Chonan gets put to bed in just 19 seconds. After the jump: The brief but ferocious slugfest between Yoshiro Maeda and Masanori Kanehara, which ended in an unfortunate early stoppage, and the welterweight GP final match between Keita Nakamura and Yasubey Enomoto.

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Maximo Blanco vs. Won Sik Park Added to Soul of Fight

Filed under: Sengoku, News, JapanSengoku Raiden Championship promoter World Victory Road added four more fights on Friday to its “Soul of Fight” end of year event, bringing the total to 27 fights.

Sengoku’s brightest prospect Maximo Blanco will face …

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Sengoku Raiden Championship promoter World Victory Road added four more fights on Friday to its “Soul of Fight” end of year event, bringing the total to 27 fights.

Sengoku’s brightest prospect Maximo Blanco will face one of the toughest tests of his young career as he takes on the underrated Won Sik “Parky” Park. Blanco was originally set for a lightweight title fight but as his planned opponent, Kazunori Yokota, was unable to get past Brian Cobb at SRC 15 in October ended those plans. Park has been the victim of unfortunate circumstances over they past year as his debut against Kuniyoshi Hironaka at DREAM 12 in October 2009 was spoiled by an eye poke and his tune-up fight in Deep against Ryuki Ueyama was ruled a no contest after a disputed referee stoppage.

Former SRC featherweight champion Masanori Kanehara will return to action to take on DREAM representative Yoshiro Maeda. Maeda is coming off a solid but narrow victory over former DEEP featherweight champ Takafumi Otsuka while Kanehara will be looking for his first win since losing his belt to Marlon Sandro.

Knockout of the Week: Marlon Sandro Flattens Masanori Kanehara in 38 Seconds, Wins Sengoku Featherweight Title

(Props: neerbnadroj)
While American MMA fans were focused on the TUF 11 Finale and WEC 49 last weekend, Sengoku Raiden Championships 13 went down Sunday in Tokyo, featuring Masanori Kanehara’s first featherweight title defense against Marlon …

(Props: neerbnadroj)

While American MMA fans were focused on the TUF 11 Finale and WEC 49 last weekend, Sengoku Raiden Championships 13 went down Sunday in Tokyo, featuring Masanori Kanehara‘s first featherweight title defense against Marlon Sandro. Or should we say attempted title defense — Sandro needed just 38 seconds to blast Kanehara with a right uppercut and send him down to the canvas face-first, stiff as a board. Already the reigning featherweight King of Pancrase, Sandro now adds the Sengoku featherweight belt to his trophy case.

After an early career that was marked by more decisions than stoppages, Sandro (17-1) has scored three straight first-round knockouts since his controversial split-decision loss to Michihiro Omigawa last August; Sandro’s win over Kanehara follows his nine-second KO of Tomonari Kanomata at Sengoku 12. Sengoku 13 will be broadcast on HDNet this Friday at 10 p.m. ET. Full results from the event are after the jump…

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Sengoku 13 Results: Kanehara vs. Sandro, Kikuta vs. Enomoto, More

Filed under: Sengoku, Results, JapanTOKYO — MMAFighting.com has complete Sengoku 13 results for all the fights happening June 20 from the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.

In the main event, Masanori Kanehara defends his featherweight belt against M…

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TOKYO — MMAFighting.com has complete Sengoku 13 results for all the fights happening June 20 from the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.

In the main event, Masanori Kanehara defends his featherweight belt against Marlon Sandro. Also, Sengoku kicks off its Welterweight GP with K-Taro Nakamura vs. Omar de la Cruz and Takuya Wada vs. Jae Sun Lee.

Full Sengoku 13 results are below.