---



UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson (also known as UFC 144: Japan) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The event is expected to take place on February 26, 2012 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.


Official fight card

Main card

Lightweight Championship bout: United States Frankie Edgar (c) vs. United States Ben Henderson
Light Heavyweight bout: United States Quinton Jackson vs. United States Ryan Bader
Heavyweight bout: New Zealand Mark Hunt vs. France Cheick Kongo
Welterweight bout: Japan Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. United States Jake Shields
Middleweight bout: Japan Yushin Okami vs. United States Tim Boetsch
Featherweight bout: Japan Hatsu Hioki vs. Poland Bart Palaszewski
Lightweight bout: United States Anthony Pettis vs. United States Joe Lauzon

Preliminary card (FX)

Lightweight bout: Japan Takanori Gomi vs. Japan Eiji Mitsuoka
Bantamweight bout: Japan Norifumi Yamamoto vs. England Vaughan Lee
Middleweight bout: Japan Riki Fukuda vs. United States Steve Cantwell
Bantamweight bout: Japan Takeya Mizugaki vs. United States Chris Cariaso

Preliminary card (Facebook)

Featherweight bout: China Zhang Tiequan vs. Japan Issei Tamura


Background

George Sotiropoulos was expected to face Takanori Gomi at this event, but was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by promotional newcomer Eiji Mitsuoka.
Leonard Garcia was expected to face Zhang Tiequan at this event, but was forced out of the bout with an injury. Issei Tamura will step in for Garcia and fight Zhang.
This event will mark the UFC's first event in Japan since UFC 29.


Jan 30 - updated fightcard & background (Sotiropoulos out, Mitsuoka takes his place)
Feb 15 - updated fightcard & background (Garcia out etc)
Feb 19 - updated fightcard (Facebook)

One cool ass poster - why can't every poster looks like this one? I remember the Pride posters back in the day

Different production teams I think. This poster does look badass I agree

I wonder wether they will chear for Zhang or Leonard in the first fight .
oh wait they ain't american drunk assholes, over there they keep tranquility

I love how this card hasnt changed a bit since it first was announced

Sotiropoulos Out; Eiji Mitsuoka Faces Takanori Gomi at UFC 144


An injury has forced former Ultimate Fighter competitor George Sotiropoulos out of UFC 144 in Japan. Eiji Mitsuoka steps in to take his place to face Takanori Gomi.

Sources close to the fight confirmed the news to MMAWeekly.com on Friday with bout agreements issued for the February contest.

Eiji Mitsuoka will make his UFC debut on just a month’s notice, where he will fight at home in Japan against former Pride champion Takanori Gomi.

A former Sengoku and Dream fighter, Mitsuoka has won his last two fights and will look to make it three in a row by defeating Gomi.

UFC 144 takes place at Saitama Super Arena on Feb. 26


Source:

Jan 30 - updated fightcard & background (Sotiropoulos out, Mitsuoka takes his place)

Leonard Garcia out at UFC 144, Tiequan Zhang awaits new opponent






Leonard Garcia (15-8-1 MMA, 2-4 UFC) will not fight at UFC 144.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has confirmed with sources close to Garcia that "Bad Boy" has suffered an injury in training and has been forced to withdraw from a planned matchup with Tiequan Zhang (15-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC).

The withdrawal was first reported by MMAWeekly.com.

A timetable for Garcia's return wasn't immediately known. The promotion is currently seeking a replacement opponent for Zhang.

Featuring a lightweight title fight between current champion Frankie Edgar (14-1-1 MMA, 9-1-1 UFC) and top contender Ben Henderson (15-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC), UFC 144 takes place Sunday, Feb. 26, at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Due to the time difference, the pay-per-view main card airs live on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT) in North America.

Garcia had hoped to rebound from a two-fight losing streak after dropping back-to-back outings to Nam Phan and Chan Sung Jung. The always-exciting featherweight brawler, who has fought to five split-decision results in his past eight contests, has fought under the Zuffa banner since 2007 and has earned four "Knockout of the Night" bonuses in his past six outings.

Meanwhile, Zhang looks to fight for the third time as a featherweight. After closing out the WEC with a loss to Danny Downes, "The Mongolian Wolf" dropped to 145 pounds and earned a submission win over Jason Reinhardt. However, Zhang's most recent outing was a decision loss to Darren Elkins at this past October's UFC 136 event.


Source:

Feb 15 - updated fightcard & background (Garcia out etc)