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Hiromitsu Kanehara (Japanese:金原弘光,Kanehara Hiromitsu, bornKim Wang-hong on October 5, 1970 inOwariasahi, Aichi) is a former Japanesemixed martial artist andprofessional wrestler ofKorean descent. A professional MMA competitor from 1998 until 2012, he found success inFighting Network RINGS, gaining notable victories overValentijn Overeem,Alexandre Ferreira, formerKing of the Cage Light Heavyweight ChampionJeremy Horn, formerRINGS Light-Heavyweight ChampionMasayuki Naruse and formerUFC Middleweight ChampionDave Menne.

He later competed forPRIDE Fighting Championships,DEEP,Pancrase andK-1 HERO'S to mixed success. Kanehara also once competed in professional kickboxing. Kanehara initially started his career as a professional wrestler and competed mostly inshoot style wrestling withUWF International and its successorKingdom. He later made appearances forPro Wrestling Zero1 andReal Japan Pro Wrestling before retiring in 2020.

Kanehara debuted in RINGS with a submission win againstSander Thonhauser and followed it with a victory on May 29, 1998, againstLee Hasdell, winning by decision. He would follow with victories over Sander MacKilljan, Hans Nijman and Hasdell again, but his winning streak broke in February 1999 againstCarlson Gracie apprenticeRicardo Morais. The 60 pound heavier Morais controlled Kanehara positionally with the aid of his size, leaving the Japanese relegated to tryKimura locks from underneath and trying to escape unsuccessfully.

On May 22, Kanehara facedValentijn Overeem from RINGS Holland. Again facing a heavier opponent, Kanehara was hit with knees and kicks to the head and downed in the initial minute, but he managed to execute a takedown on Overeem, who fell badly and dislocated his knee. Judges and referee deliberated about letting the match continue after the knee was relocated, and they eventually conceded. Returning to action, Overeem landed a body kick which Kanehara grabbed for another takedown, but Hiromitsu fell into a guillotine and was forced to spend a rope escape. The sequence repeated itself before Overeem knocked Kanehara out with a high kick.^[1]

Kanehara had his debut in worldwide MMA at the 1999 edition of theKing of Kings tournament, where he faced tough opposition. Kanehara eliminatedJeremy Horn in a prolonged grappling affair in the first round, winning the unanimous decision thanks to his superior wrestling and ground work, and then went to face eventual winnerDan Henderson. The match was harsh and brutal, with Kanehara getting his nose broken and finally being dominated with repeated takedowns for a majority decision loss.

After the tournament, Kanehara avenged his defeat toValentijn Overeem, knocking out the Dutch fighter via punch from the clinch in a much shorter match. He was next sent as a RINGS representative to the event Colosseum 2000, where he found himself in front of Brazilian jiu-jitsu legendMario Sperry; even at loss, Kanehara performed impressively, countering and escaping all the bad positions he was caught with by Sperry. Before the next edition of the tournament, Kanehara still fought the former finalistRenato "Babalu" Sobral, losing by decision.

Kanehara returned to KoK format facing popularluta livre practitioner andADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship championAlexandre "Cacareco" Ferreira. Although believed to be technically outmatched, Kanehara fought a long, strategic match and ended submitting the decorated grappler by kimura. He then won his next match, quickly knocking outTommy Sauer with punches, and reached the tournament's final event. There, Kanehara fought and defeated another tough opponent in the form ofDave Menne, dominating the stand-up and knocking him out for a TKO win in round 3, although there was some controversy when Menne's corner protested the stoppage had been premature. Finally, Kanehara faced the eventual winner, Brazilian jiu-jitsu expertAntonio Rodrigo Nogueira, losing a very back and forth grappling contest when he was caught in a choke and forced to submit.

After his KoK tenures, Kanehara went to fight another Brazilian exponent and ADCC winner,Ricardo Arona, who he had already wrestled in ADCC in a losing effort. Though Kanehara was able to survive several striking combinations, holding his own on the mat, he was reversed in one of his own kneebar attempts and submitted. Right after he fought futureUltimate Fighting Championship welterweight championMatt Hughes, losing by unanimous decision.

At the twilight of his career, Kanehara debuted inPRIDE Fighting Championships as a RINGS veteran, and was pitted against a series of world-level opponents as PRIDE was known for doing with Japanese professional wrestlers. The first of them would be Wanderlei Silva in a challenge fight in PRIDE 23 for the PRIDE Middleweight Championship, but Kanehara was knocked down with strikes and hit with soccer kicks and stomps until his corner threw the towel.

Hiromitsu returned to PRIDE as part of the Bushido series, taking on another feared striker inMirko Cro Cop. The match went to the judges this time, as Kanehara absorbed a surprising amount of punishment, including Mirko's dreaded left high kick. He got similar results againstAlistair Overeem in PRIDE 28; he survived a barrage of punches,flying knees and even aGerman suplex-like takedown, until he was finished by doctor stoppage.

His final appearance in PRIDE was in its 29th event, being defeated byMaurício Rua via TKO (stomp) in the first round.

• Fighting Network RINGS
  • 2000 RINGS King of Kings Tournament Semifinalist^[2]
  • 2000 RINGS Rising Stars Middleweight Tournament Semifinalist^[2]
• Union of Wrestling Forces International
  • Junior League Tournament (1992)^[3]

Kickboxing record

0 wins, 1 loss
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Location	Method	Round	Time	Record
March 1, 1996	Loss	Changpuek Kiatsongrit	UWF-i High Tension	Tokyo, Japan	Decision (unanimous)	5	3:00	0–1
Legend:  Win  Loss  Draw/No contest

Result	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Notes
Loss	Ricardo Arona	Points	ADCC -99 kg First Round	2000	N/A	N/A

• Professional MMA record for Hiromitsu Kanehara fromSherdog
• RINGS fight history

• 1970 births
• Living people
• People from Owariasahi, Aichi
• Japanese male mixed martial artists
• Martial artists from Aichi Prefecture
• Japanese people of Korean descent
• Light heavyweight mixed martial artists
• Mixed martial artists utilizing kickboxing
• Mixed martial artists utilizing shoot wrestling
• Japanese male professional wrestlers
• Zainichi Korean mixed martial artists

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• BLP articles lacking sources from March 2012
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• Articles containing Japanese-language text