In February, Urijah Faber fought Renan Barao in the main event of UFC 169 in New Jersey. His next fight against Alex Caceres was placed on the televised prelims of UFC 175, which marked the first time Faber had ever been on a preliminary card in his Zuffa career. "The California Kid" will now travel to Japan, where he'll be part of what looks to be the UFC's biggest Fight Pass card to date. Fight Sport Asia first reported confirmation of Faber taking on Masanori Kanehara in a bit of surprising matchmaking. The original plan apparently was to finally book Faber against Norifumi Yamamoto, but Kid suffered an injury in training and Yamamoto's chances of a UFC return went down the drain.
Faber (31-7) finished a game Alex Caceres with a rear-naked choke in July, marking his 5th submission victory in the UFC. The 35-year-old's only losses in the past two years have both come against former bantamweight champion Renan Barao.
Kanehara (23-11-5) was literally just profiled by our own Zane Simon yesterday, so it only makes sense to take an excerpt from that post to best describe his path into the UFC:
Kanehara has competed for ZST, Sengoku, and Pancrase, as well as brief stints with K-1 and Shooto. He has wins over, Norifumi Yamamoto, Michihiro Omigawa, Chan Sung Jung, and Shunichi Shimizu. He would be entering the UFC on a 6 fight win streak, if he hadn't lost his last fight by DQ for throwing his opponent out of the ring.
For reference, this is Kanehara sending him and his opponent literally out of the ring. It should be noted though that the bulk of Kanehara's best wins came in 2009, so this is one hell of a leap in competition for a UFC debut.
UFC Fight Night in Saitama, Japan is September 20th and airs live on Fight Pass. Roy Nelson and Mark Hunt take part in the main event, with other notable fights including Miesha Tate/Rin Nakai, Myles Jury/Takanori Gomi, and Yoshihiro Akiyama/Kyle Noke.