Alex Caceres replaces Urijah Faber, meets Masanori Kanehara at UFC Fight Night 52
One of his recent opponents has replaced Urijah Faber at next month’s UFC Fight Night 52 event in Japan.
An injury has forced former WEC champ Faber (31-7 MMA, 7-3 UFC) off the card, and Alex Caceres (10-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC), whose four-fight winning streak came to an end with a recent loss to Faber, has stepped in as a replacement to fight bantamweight Masenori Kanehara (23-11-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC).
The UFC’s Japanese website recently noted the change (touch of gloves: Sherdog.com).
Featuring a heavyweight contest between Mark Hunt and Roy Nelson, UFC Fight Night 52 takes place Sept. 20 at Saitama Arena at Saitama, Japan. UFC Fight Pass streams the whole card.
Kanehara, a UFC newcomer, was going to be a massive underdog to Faber, who’s ranked No. 3 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings. Caceres, meanwhile, is an honorable mention and just outside the top 15.
Caceres was on a 4-0 run (with one no-contest that originally was a victory) before he got a major step up in competition and suffered a third-round decision loss to Faber at UFC 175. Prior to the loss, the 26-year-old “TUF 12″ vet picked up a solid win over prospect Sergio Pettis, which netted him a pair of fight-night bonuses.
Kanehara, meanwhile, is a 31-year-old Japanese product who makes his UFC debut. Fighting professionally since 2003, Kanehara opened his career with a pedestrian 3-3-4 mark but has gone on to build an impressive record while competing for World Victory Road/Sengoku, Pancrase and DEEP. Seventeen of his 23 career wins have come via stoppage.
The latest UFC Fight Night 52 card now includes:
Mark Hunt vs. Roy Nelson
Takanori Gomi vs. Myles Jury
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Amir Sadollah
Rin Nakai vs. Miesha Tate
Alex Caceres vs. Masanori Kanehara
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Jon Delos Reyes
Kiichi Kunimoto vs. Richard Walsh
Katsunori Kikuno vs. Sam Sicilia
Hyun Gyu Lim vs. Takenori Sato
Kyung Ho Kang vs. Michinori Tanaka
Johnny Case vs. Kazuki Tokudome
Maximo Blanco vs. Daniel Hooker