He next fought Magisa at DEEP Cage Impact 2016 in Osaka, and won the fight by an armbar in the second round.
[4] Returning to Pancrase, Kawahara suffered his first professional loss to Takuya Goto, by split decision.
The fight ended in a no-contest, as Kawahara landed an accidental low blow which rendered Kodama unable to continue.
After beating Nakamura, Kawahara was scheduled to once again challenge for the DEEP Strawweight title, in a rematch with Haruo Ochi.
[13] Following his win against Haruo Ochi, and prior to signing with ONE Championship, Fight Matrix ranked him as the second best strawweight in the world.