Masa Ahondara

Background
If memory serves me right, Masa Ahondara was one of the top young chefs in Japan - through a natural talent for creating great dishes and hard work in culinary school, Ahondara had become the head chef of a Michelin starred restaurant in Kyoto by the age of 21. His talent was noticed by chairman Takeshi Kaga of Iron Chef 's Kitchen Stadium, who recruited him as the heir apparent to the retiring Iron Chef Japanese, Rokusaburo Michiba. A man's fantasy had become reality.

However, just as quickly as he rose to fame and prominence, his culinary career would take a dark, tragic turn into oblivion. During consecutive tapings of Iron Chef, three distinguished judges - Lower house member Shinichiro Kunimoto, photographer Tenmei Kanoh, and fortune teller Kazuko Hosoki would all fall ill from food poisoning. It was discovered that Iron Chef Ahondara was in violation of several key food safety guidelines throughout all of his battles. Chairman Kaga was left no choice but to fire Ahondara and strip his win-loss record from the Iron Chef record books.

It was some time after his disgraceful exit from Iron Chef that Ahondara began training in Mixed Martial Arts, where he learned to fuse traditional Japanese kickboxing techniques with a dazzling palate of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, and catch-as-catch-can wrestling - with his secret ingredient of punching adding the final touch in his decadent, savory offense. The motivation for joining KUMITE was for Ahondara to deliver new and original ass-whoopings - which could be called true artistic creations.

To realize his dream, he secretly began calling out several of the best fighters in the Middleweight division. By winning his first two fights in KUMITE via knockout, Ahondara gained the people's ovation and fame forever. A loss to Barbara in the quarter-finals of the first KUMITE Middleweight tournament was a major setback. However, the 2015 Middleweight tournament could be a major opportunity for Ahondara to climb back to the top of the division. What inspiration will this year's challengers bring? And how will the former Iron Chef fight back? The heat will be on!

MMA record

 * style="background: #ffcccc; text-align: center;"| Loss
 * align=center| 5-5
 * Marco van Smeerlap
 * TKO (Knees)
 * KUMITE 35
 * November 20, 2016
 * align=center| 1
 * align=center| 7:56
 * 🇯🇵Sendai, Japan
 * style="background: #ffcccc; text-align: center;"| Loss
 * align=center| 5-4
 * Goran Hoenselaar
 * KO (Punch)
 * KUMITE 32
 * August 14, 2016
 * align=center| 1
 * align=center| 8:11
 * 🇯🇵Osaka, Japan
 * Opening Round
 * style="background: #ccffcc; text-align: center;"| Win
 * align=center| 5-3
 * Takao Kusotare
 * TKO (Punches)
 * KUMITE 27
 * March 13, 2016
 * align=center| 1
 * align=center| 9:08
 * 🇯🇵Hokkaido, Japan
 * style="background: #ffcccc; text-align: center;"| Loss
 * align=center| 4-3
 * Erik Helheim
 * KO (Punch)
 * KUMITE 22
 * October 8, 2015
 * align=center| 2
 * align=center| 3:32
 * 🇯🇵Sapporo, Japan
 * Quarterfinal
 * style="background: #ccffcc; text-align: center;"| Win
 * align=center| 4-2
 * Hiroshi "Mecha" Matsui
 * TKO (Knees)
 * KUMITE 20
 * August 13, 2015
 * align=center| 1
 * align=center| 5:41
 * 🇯🇵Osaka, Japan
 * Opening Round
 * style="background: #ffcccc; text-align: center;"| Loss
 * align=center| 3-2
 * Horst Düvers
 * KO (Punch)
 * KUMITE 18
 * June 25, 2015
 * align=center| 1
 * align=center| 6:17
 * 🇯🇵Sendai, Japan
 * style="background: #ccffcc; text-align: center;"| Win
 * align=center| 3-1
 * Alistair Gobb
 * TKO (Knees)
 * KUMITE 15
 * March 14, 2015
 * align=center| 1
 * align=center| 9:37
 * 🇯🇵Osaka, Japan
 * style="background: #ffcccc; text-align: center;"| Loss
 * align=center| 2-1
 * Barbara
 * TKO (Knees)
 * KUMITE 10
 * October 25, 2014
 * align=center| 2
 * align=center| 1:44
 * 🇯🇵Kobe, Japan
 * Quarter-final
 * style="background: #ccffcc; text-align: center;"| Win
 * align=center| 2-0
 * Nelson Nelson
 * KO (Soccer kick)
 * KUMITE 6
 * June 14, 2014
 * align=center| 2
 * align=center| 1:37
 * 🇯🇵Sendai, Japan
 * Opening Round
 * style="background: #ccffcc; text-align: center;"| Win
 * align=center| 1-0
 * Dragan Stojanovic
 * TKO (Punches)
 * KUMITE 3
 * March 29, 2014
 * align=center| 1
 * align=center| 5:54
 * 🇯🇵Nagoya, Japan
 * }
 * align=center| 1:37
 * 🇯🇵Sendai, Japan
 * Opening Round
 * style="background: #ccffcc; text-align: center;"| Win
 * align=center| 1-0
 * Dragan Stojanovic
 * TKO (Punches)
 * KUMITE 3
 * March 29, 2014
 * align=center| 1
 * align=center| 5:54
 * 🇯🇵Nagoya, Japan
 * }
 * }
 * }

