In 1977, Urquidez traveled to Japan and fought under the WKA's compromise US–Japan rules which included leg kicks and knees to the body. He defeated Katsuyuki Suzuki by KO in the 6th round (August 1977) as part of the professional wrestling event in which Antonio Inoki fought Everett Eddy in what was said to be a wrestler/karate fighter mixed match but was a pre-determined pro wrestling match. The Suzuki fight materialized because the newly formed WKA organization could not compete against the PKA in the US. At the same time, Japanese professional wrestler Antonio Inoki, who gained the worldwide fame by fighting Muhammad Ali in the controversial 1976 boxer/wrestler mixed-match in Japan, had been looking for new opponents for what he called the world martial arts championship series. Eventually, promoter Ron Holmes discovered Everett Eddy for Inoki. By that time, Eddy had been coached by Arnold Urquidez, and lost in a knockout in the 1st round to PKA world heavyweight champion Ross Scott in the previous year. In the same event, Benny Urquidez knocked out Howard Jackson, but soon his lightweight title was stripped by the PKA, and so both Eddy and Urquidez had no action in the US, and had to look for fights overseas. Even though the Inoki/Eddy bout was successful, it was the fight between Urquidez and Suzuki, which shocked Japan, where Japanese kickboxing had been very popular. Though never tested for or achieved any rank in Japanese karate, Urquidez has decided to bestow upon himself the rank of "sensei", a Japanese honorific term which at the most shallowest term, would mean "guide".