Urijah Faber is heading to Japan for his next fight as he’s just been scheduled to welcome Masanori Kanehara to the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 52 on September 20th.
Kanehara is a 31 year-old veteran of promotions like DEEP, Pancrase and Sengoku where he was once there featherweight tournament champion, and has amassed a 23-11-5 record over the course of his 11 year MMA career.
He’s won six of his last seven bouts, with his only loss in that period coming in his last fight against Toshiaki Kitada at DEEP 66 back in April where he was disqualified after throwing his opponent out of the ring.
Kanehara has fought a number of Asian stars over the course of his career, like Michihiro Omigawa, ‘Kid’ Yamamoto, Hatsu Hioki and Marlon Sandro, and ‘The Korean Zombie’, but competing against former WEC champ Faber could prove to be his toughest test to date.
Faber is currently in an awkward spot in that he has a knack for defeating pretty much everybody he faces except for whoever is holding the belt.
Since joining the UFC he’s compiled a 7-3 record, with the three losses coming to the bantamweight champions at the time, Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao (bantamweight) twice, while his victories have come largely against other top contenders in those divisions.
With that in mind the UFC are hesitant to put him back in the title hunt too quickly, and so they’ve started pairing him up with lower ranked opponents, such as Alex Caceras last time out who he finished with a third round rear-naked choke, and now Kanehara.
Faber Vs Kanehara is set to take place on the main card of the UFC Fight Night 52 event in Japan which will feature a heavyweight bout between Roy Nelson and Mark Hunt at the top of the bill, while Miesha Tate takes on ‘The Queen Of Pancrase’ Rin Nakai.
