Kuniyoshi Hironaka Versus Yoshihiro Koyama For LW Title at Cage Force

Former UFC welterweight Kuniyoshi Hironaka (12-6) and Yoshihiro Koyama (10-1-1) will contest for the Cage Force lightweight title at Cage Force 12 in Tokyo 12 September, Cage Force announced Sunday.

Cage Force is Japan’s first cage-based MMA promotion and considered a UFC-qualifying promotion for Japanese fighters. Current UFC talents who entered the Octagon after stints in Cage Force include “Thunder” Yushin Okami (23-4), “Outlaw” Dan Hardy (22-6), and “Zenko” Yoshiyuki Yoshida (11-3). That trio alone holds a 12-2 record in the Octagon.

Hironaka fared less well with a 1-3 UFC record, but is riding a two-fight winning streak into the title fight. He TKO’d puroresu’s Katsuhiko Nagata (4-4) at Cage Force 11 in Tokyo 27 June.

Koyama won a UD over Tomonari Kanomata (10-3-3) at Cage Force EX in Tokyo 28 February. If he leaps the hurdle of Hironaka, Koyama could be headed to an Octagon near you soon.

The Cage Force lightweight title was just vacated by Mizuto Hirota (9-3) who has fought his last two battles at Sengoku.

The undercard includes:

Wataru Miki (13-7-3) v Tomonori Taniguchi (2-5)
Yasunori Kanehara (0-4-1) v “KG Shinto” Hiroki Kuga (1-1)
Wataru Takahashi (6-8-3) v “Randleman” Masayoshi Ichikawa (0-1)
Hirokazu Nishimura (2-1-1) v Yoshihiro Matsunaga (0-1)
Masato Kobayashi (0-0) v Daisuke Sugishima (0-0)