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Masanori Kanehara is fighting Chihiro Suzuki for the Rizin featherweight title tonight / tomorrow morning. For most in the MMA world, this amounts to a completely irrelevant fight. But for anyone who has followed Kanehara's career, this fight is 15 years in the making.
When Pride folded in 2007, two promotions rose in its ashes: Sengoku and Dream. Dream was more star studded with a lot of the biggest names outside of the UFC. Whereas Sengoku featured a lot more unknown names.
In traditional Japanese fashion, Sengoku kicked things off with a featherweight tournament. Most of the names at the time were completely unknown, including a guy named Chan Sung Jung (who Kanehara would beat in the quarterfinals).
Like many tournaments, this one was filled with controversy. Marlon Sandro quickly established himself as the tournament favorite, but he was upset by Omigawa in the semifinals in a fight many considered a robbery. Hatsu Hioki defeated Kanehara in the semifinals, but dropped out of the tournament from a concussion, and was replaced by Kanehara in the finals. Kanehara ended up beating Omigawa to "win" the tournament.
With this win, Kanehara was booked a massive new years eve fight against Kid Yamamoto. Kanehara was a massive underdog, and dominated KID, leaving no doubt that he was one of the best fighters in Japan.
With Kanehara's stock sky high, Sengoku ended up booking a title fight between Marlon Sandro and Kanehara. Kanehara was a massive underdog again, but this time, he did not get the upset. The result was nothing short of spectacular, with Sandro cementing himself as possibly the most exciting prospect outside the UFC:
With this brutal knockout loss behind him, Kanehara was given a winnable fight against Yoshiro Maeda, which he blundered in again badly, getting knocked out again in a minute.
Kanehara could have faded into irrelevance, but he didn't. He won a few more fights, and then quite surprisingly got signed by the UFC. In his debut, he was a sizeable +265 underdog to Alex Caceres, but didn't show it. He took Caceres down at will and rode his back for most of the fight, securing a dominant decision win.
The UFC booked Kanehara next again Rani Yahya in a winnable fight for him. Despite Kanehara outlanding Yahya by over 100 strikes, the judges shockingly gave Yahya the decision.
For his final UFC fight, the UFC booked Kanehara against then top ranked Michael Mcdonald. Kanehara was a +400 underdog. For 7 minutes, Kanehara completely dominated Mcdonald on the ground, outlanding him 77-6. Then, while attempting to submit Mcdonald with an arm triangle, Mcdonald miraculously took his back and finished him with an RNC. His UFC career was over.
Cut from the UFC, Kanehara became effectively inactive. Between 2016-2019 he only had two MMA fights -- both of which were quick stoppage wins.
In 2020 he was picked up by Rizin and was matched with a very tough opponent in Victor Henry. Henry stopped Kanehara in a comfortable performance, and it appeared Kanehara's best days were behind him.
Kanehara has shown otherwise. He has since gone 4-0 in Rizin, most recently dominating Kleber Koike Erbst in another massive upset, and leaving no doubt that Kanehara remains one of the best grapplers in the sport.
It's been 15 years since Kanehara was crowned the Sengoku tournament champion. He now has the opportunity tonight to secure another upset to win the Rizin title against a fighter more than 15 years his junior.
War Kanehara.
When Pride folded in 2007, two promotions rose in its ashes: Sengoku and Dream. Dream was more star studded with a lot of the biggest names outside of the UFC. Whereas Sengoku featured a lot more unknown names.
In traditional Japanese fashion, Sengoku kicked things off with a featherweight tournament. Most of the names at the time were completely unknown, including a guy named Chan Sung Jung (who Kanehara would beat in the quarterfinals).
Like many tournaments, this one was filled with controversy. Marlon Sandro quickly established himself as the tournament favorite, but he was upset by Omigawa in the semifinals in a fight many considered a robbery. Hatsu Hioki defeated Kanehara in the semifinals, but dropped out of the tournament from a concussion, and was replaced by Kanehara in the finals. Kanehara ended up beating Omigawa to "win" the tournament.
With this win, Kanehara was booked a massive new years eve fight against Kid Yamamoto. Kanehara was a massive underdog, and dominated KID, leaving no doubt that he was one of the best fighters in Japan.
With Kanehara's stock sky high, Sengoku ended up booking a title fight between Marlon Sandro and Kanehara. Kanehara was a massive underdog again, but this time, he did not get the upset. The result was nothing short of spectacular, with Sandro cementing himself as possibly the most exciting prospect outside the UFC:
With this brutal knockout loss behind him, Kanehara was given a winnable fight against Yoshiro Maeda, which he blundered in again badly, getting knocked out again in a minute.
Kanehara could have faded into irrelevance, but he didn't. He won a few more fights, and then quite surprisingly got signed by the UFC. In his debut, he was a sizeable +265 underdog to Alex Caceres, but didn't show it. He took Caceres down at will and rode his back for most of the fight, securing a dominant decision win.
The UFC booked Kanehara next again Rani Yahya in a winnable fight for him. Despite Kanehara outlanding Yahya by over 100 strikes, the judges shockingly gave Yahya the decision.
For his final UFC fight, the UFC booked Kanehara against then top ranked Michael Mcdonald. Kanehara was a +400 underdog. For 7 minutes, Kanehara completely dominated Mcdonald on the ground, outlanding him 77-6. Then, while attempting to submit Mcdonald with an arm triangle, Mcdonald miraculously took his back and finished him with an RNC. His UFC career was over.
Cut from the UFC, Kanehara became effectively inactive. Between 2016-2019 he only had two MMA fights -- both of which were quick stoppage wins.
In 2020 he was picked up by Rizin and was matched with a very tough opponent in Victor Henry. Henry stopped Kanehara in a comfortable performance, and it appeared Kanehara's best days were behind him.
Kanehara has shown otherwise. He has since gone 4-0 in Rizin, most recently dominating Kleber Koike Erbst in another massive upset, and leaving no doubt that Kanehara remains one of the best grapplers in the sport.
It's been 15 years since Kanehara was crowned the Sengoku tournament champion. He now has the opportunity tonight to secure another upset to win the Rizin title against a fighter more than 15 years his junior.
War Kanehara.
