UFC is back to the Land of the Rising Sun, precisely on February 26, 2012. The stage will be the traditional Saitama Super Arena, where fans cheered for many years with Pride.
The card doesn’t bring much nostalgia to the eternal fans of Pride, but has four stars of Nipponese quad time. And doesn’t have any Brazilian stars, loved by Japanese fans.
The beasts who fought in the Japanese ring and are scheduled for the return of Ultimate Japan, 12 years after the last event are Mark Hunt (New Zealand), Quinton Jackson (USA), Takanori Gomi and Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (local).
And the main fight brings the thrilling dispute for the lightweight belt, between the champion Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson.
UFC 144
Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan
February 26, 2012
Frankie Edgar vs Ben Henderson
Quinton Jackson vs Ryan Bader
Cheick Kongo vs Mark Hunt
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Shields
Joe Lauzon vs Anthony Pettis
Yushin Okami vs Tim Boetsch
Riki Fukuda vs Steve Cantwell
Norifumi Yamamoto vs Vaughan Lee
Takanori Gomi vs George Sotiropoulos
Takeya Mizugaki vs Chris Cariaso
Tiequan Zhang vs Leonard Garcia
Hatsu Hioki vs Bart Palaszewski