Abayo, Kaneko

In perhaps the week's most righteous bit of news, actor-turned-fighter Ken Kaneko has announced that he will be retiring from the combat sport community, and return to his private life and the acting industry.

The 30-year-old Kaneko, who first rose to fame in the "Beat" Takeshi Kitano film Kids Return, made a dubious debut in mixed martial arts competition at PRIDE's New Year's Eve show in 2005, losing via submission to "Krazy Horse" Charles Bennett. While many expected Kaneko to be a one-and-done in fightsport, Kaneko returned to the ring 10 months later in HERO'S, where he was quickly submitted by Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) before losing what proved to be his final match, against Andy Ologun, at K-1 Premium 2006 Dynamite!! this past New Year's Eve.

Kaneko, who has trained with the likes of Kazushi Sakuraba and K-1 MAX star Masato as of late, has stated that he will continue to train, despite having no intentions of stepping into the ring again.