This coming weekend the UFC returns to Japan for UFC 144: Edgar Vs Henderson which will be held at the Saitama Super Arena.
Headlining the show will be a lightweight title fight as Frankie Edgar looks to defend his belt for the fourth time against former WEC champ Ben Henderson.
Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, who made his name in Japan while fighting for the PRIDE organization, gets his wish to fight again in the Land Of The Rising Sun and he’ll take on Ryan Bader who bounced back from a two-fight losing streak last weekend with a KO win over Jason Brilz.
Yoshihiro Akiyama will get the opportunity to fight on home soil, and after three defeats in a row he’ll be hoping a move down to 170lbs will revive his fortunes, though he’ll certainly have his work cut out for him going up against former No.1 contender Jake Shields who also needs to reverse a recent dip in form.
Another former PRIDE fighter Mark Hunt also features on the main card after his recent resurgence in the UFC, taking on another man who likes to throw down, Cheick Kongo.
A very competitive looking lightweight fixture between the in-form Joe Lauzon against Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis will also grace the main card.
Normally that would be the complete card for the PPV portion of the event, but on this occasion the card has been specially extended to feature a further two fights as Yushin Okami takes on Tim Boetsch and Hatsu Hioki faces Bart Palaszewski, extending the broadcast to four hours in total.
Check out the full line-up below.
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Main Card:
Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson
Quinton Jackson vs. Ryan Bader
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields
Mark Hunt vs. Cheick Kongo
Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
Joe Lauzon vs. Anthony Pettis
Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski
Prelims:
Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee
Takanori Gomi vs. Eiji Mitsuoka
Tiequan Zhang vs. Issei Tamura
Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso
