Masanori Kanehara Upsets Kleber Koike Erbst in Rizin 44 Featherweight Headliner

Masanori Kanehara could now be next in line for the title!

[ #RIZIN44 | @FiteTV PPV https://t.co/eEpfmslhPp] pic.twitter.com/bkgOy5zj2W

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) September 24, 2023

Rizin 44 concluded with a shocking upset in Sunday’s featherweight main event in Saitama, Japan.

Masanori Kanehara (29-12-1, 4-1 Rizin), who has enjoyed a career resurgence since joining the Rizin ranks in 2020, bested former featherweight champ Kleber Koike Erbst (31-7-1, 1 NC, 6-2, 1 NC Rizin) at his own game en route to a lopsided unanimous decision win.

Kanehara stunned Koike with the first punch of the fight and he continued to have success on the feet until Koike scored a takedown and trapped him in a guillotine choke. Kanehara freed his neck and spent the remainder of the round punching from Koike’s guard. In the second stanza, Kanehara took Koike down and tried to finish the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace with an arm-triangle choke, but he was unable to pass Koike’s half-guard.

Momentum was clearly on Kanehara’s side entering Round 3, and despite a Koike rope grab, Kanehara took the fight to the ground again and controlled position from the top. All three judges scored the fight in favor of Kanehara, who may be in line to challenge the winner of the featherweight title fight between Vugar Karamov and Chihiro Suzuki in November.

Speaking backstage, Kanehara credited his recent muay thai training and the support of his teammates for preparing him for the matchup. He further noted that he was confident that he could deal with Koike’s ground game and so he willingly engaged with him in grappling scrambles on the mat, for which the Saitama crowd showed its appreciation.

Juntaro Ushiku didn't get the finish, but got the win!

[ #RIZIN44 | @FiteTV PPV https://t.co/eEpfmslhPp] pic.twitter.com/reKdaYiahu

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) September 24, 2023

In the co-main event, another former Rizin featherweight champion, Juntaro Ushiku (21-8, 3-2 Rizin), used his superior grappling skills to secure a clear unanimous decision victory over heavy-handed striker Kyohei Hagiwara (7-8, 6-6 Rizin). The opening round was Hagiwara’s best, but Ushiku took over with takedowns in the final 10 minutes, and he held back control for nearly the entire duration of Round 3.

Yoshinori Horie's lightweight debut is successful!

[ #RIZIN44 | @FiteTV PPV https://t.co/eEpfmslhPp] pic.twitter.com/vDwlwBeeV9

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) September 24, 2023

Opening up the main card, Yoshinori Horie (13-4, 4-1 Rizin) made a successful lightweight debut and edged out Spike Carlyle (14-6, 1-2 Rizin) via unanimous decision. Horie’s jabs and leg kicks allowed him to dictate the pace in Round 1, but Carlyle scored with a six-punch flurry and a knee to Horie’s face early in the second stanza. He was warned for punching the back of Horie’s head during a clinch, however, and then repeated the same foul late in Round 3. That resulted in Carlyle being given a yellow card – a 20% point deduction on the judges’ scorecards – and sealed his fate to a defeat.

On the preliminary card, lightweight Rukiya Anpo defeated Sho Patrick Usami via unanimous decision in the event’s lone kickboxing match; Yoshiki Nakahara (18-6, 3-1 Rizin) took a unanimous decision win over Rikuto Shirakawa (11-8-1, 3-2 Rizin) at featherweight; Kazumasa Majima (16-4, 2-3 Rizin) defeated the previously unbeaten Takeji Yokoyama (5-1, 1-1 Rizin) via unanimous decision in another 145-pound bout; flyweight Ryuya Fukuda (21-7-1, 2-0 Rizin) defeated Erson Yamamoto (4-6, 3-6 Rizin) via doctor stoppage at 1:37 of Round 3; Taichi Nakajima (16-12, 1-1 Rizin) took home a dominant unanimous decision victory over Ryo Okada (17-6-3, 0-2 Rizin) at bantamweight; Shoma Shibisai (10-3-1, 5-2 Rizin) overcame early struggles on the feet and submitted fellow heavyweight Janos Csukas (7-2, 0-2 Rizin) with a heel hook at 2:27 of Round 1; and Ramazonbek Temirov (15-2-1, 2-0 Rizin) kicked off the night’s action at flyweight with a crushing KO of Takaki Soya (12-6-1, 3-2 Rizin) at 3:15 of the opening frame.