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UFC 144 Results: Reviewing the UFC’s Return to Japan

UFC 144 had it all––shocking upsets, dramatic comebacks, highlight-reel finishes and an early “Fight of the Year” candidate.On Saturday night, the UFC treated Pride’s former stomping grounds at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan to a…

UFC 144 had it all––shocking upsets, dramatic comebacks, highlight-reel finishes and an early “Fight of the Year” candidate.

On Saturday night, the UFC treated Pride’s former stomping grounds at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan to a show that could eclipse every other event lined up this year.

UFC 144 represents a moment of triumph for UFC President Dana White and Zuffa owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta.

It wasn’t too long ago that Pride Fighting Championships was considered the pinnacle of MMA. Who could ever forget the UFC’s feeble attempt to buck the Japanese juggernaut with UFC 25: Ultimate Japan, an event that receiver rather abysmal numbers?

Seven years after UFC 25, White and the Fertittas announced the UFC’s purchase of Pride.

UFC 144 represented the first UFC event in Japan in more than a decade. There weren’t any elaborate entrances, screaming ladies or falling confetti. It was just the UFC. After all of the struggles and sacrifices that White and the Fertitta endured, the UFC stood its ground in Japan as the modern-day pinnacle of MMA.

As we credit the UFC president and owners for a successful organization, we have to credit the fighters for a successful event. With a seven-fight main card, the UFC delivered an intriguing event that captivated fans all around the world.

The lightweight title fight between Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson is already being dubbed as an early “Fight of the Year” candidate. Ryan Bader shocked the world in a lopsided unanimous decision victory over former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Former Pride superstar Mark Hunt’s jarring knockout win over Cheick Kongo brought back a sense of nostalgia from his early days in Japan. Yoshihiro Akiyama put forth one of the best performances of his UFC career, despite losing a unanimous decision to Jake Shields.

After getting picked apart for two rounds, Tim Boetsch stormed back in the third and finished former title contender Yushin Okami in stunning fashion. Hatsu Hioki likely locked up a future featherweight title shot with an exciting display of striking and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in his decision win over Bart Palaszewski.

Anthony “Showtime” Pettis did what he did best against Joe Lauzon. He knocked out the Massachusetts native in the first round with one of his patented kicks.

UFC 144 will likely be the talk of the town until the promotion returns to The Land of the Rising Sun. If there are any more events where this one came from, 2012 could go down as one of the most memorable years in the history of the sport.

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UFC 144 Results: Where Would Frankie Edgar Rank at Featherweight?

The answer to Frankie Edgar’s lightweight woes could be a move down to the featherweight division.At 155 pounds, Edgar has demonstrated tremendous heart in capturing a UFC title and ousting world-class fighters twice his size.The underdog story came to…

The answer to Frankie Edgar‘s lightweight woes could be a move down to the featherweight division.

At 155 pounds, Edgar has demonstrated tremendous heart in capturing a UFC title and ousting world-class fighters twice his size.

The underdog story came to an end at UFC 144 at the hands of former WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Ben. He did a great job, but I do think I won that fight,” Edgar said at the post-fight press conference for UFC 144.

After a championship bout for the ages, all three judges scored the fight in Henderson’s favor. From the looks of the post-fight mugs alone, it would seem like the judges made the right decision.

Henderson left the arena just as smooth as he entered, but Edgar’s face was rather unrecognizable after eating a steady dose of heavy strikes throughout the closely-contested bout.

With the loss, the world is already clamoring for Edgar to consider dropping to 145 pounds to challenge UFC featherweight champion and pound-for-pound standout Jose Aldo.

The move doesn’t look like it’s coming anytime soon. At the post-fight presser, Edgar shot down all inquiries about a potential move to featherweight, but his decision won’t stop fans and pundits from playing devil’s advocate.

If he dropped weight, where would Edgar rank in the featherweight division?

The better question would probably be whether or not Edgar has the tools to oust Aldo. Outside of the featherweight champ, there isn’t a single fighter that boasts the same level wrestling and technical efficiency on the feet as Frankie Edgar.

There are fun bouts to be had at 145 pounds for the former lightweight champion, particularly against Chad Mendes, Hatsu Hioki and Diego Nunes, but in every one of those fights, Edgar would enter as a heavy favorite.

Fans want to see Edgar versus Aldo. There really is no other reason for Edgar to drop to the featherweight division. At lightweight, Edgar has earned two wins over MMA legend B.J. Penn, a decision victory over Sean Sherk and a fourth round knockout over Gray Maynard.

It wasn’t like he was blown away by Henderson. There is definitely rematch potential surrounding the UFC 144 main event.

For fans holding out hope for an Edgar-Aldo super fight, they could be waiting quite awhile longer.

Edgar is already campaigning for an immediate rematch against Henderson.

“I’m not trying to shoot anybody out of anything they deserve, but I had to do two immediate rematches [against Penn and Maynard], so, what’s right?” asked Edgar.

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UFC 144 Weigh-in Reaction and Results

The Ultimate Fighting Championship travels to the former Mecca of MMA at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan with a highly-anticipated UFC 144 fight card.The Saitama Super Arena has hosted some of the greatest fights in MMA history under the Prid…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship travels to the former Mecca of MMA at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan with a highly-anticipated UFC 144 fight card.

The Saitama Super Arena has hosted some of the greatest fights in MMA history under the Pride Fighting Championships banner.

Now, the arena will host the UFC lightweight championship bout between Frankie Edgar (154) and Benson Henderson (154).

Despite having scored monumental victories over BJ Penn, Gray Maynard and Sean Sherk, Edgar tends to play the role of perennial underdog, which is a role that he generally excels at. Hollywood couldn’t have scripted a more dramatic performance than his past couple of bouts against Maynard.

Edgar was able to survive an early onslaught in both bouts and turn the tide on his opponent. While their January 2011 meeting ended in a draw, Edgar solidified his position atop the lightweight division by stopping Maynard in the fourth round via strikes in October 2011.

Edgar now meets Henderson, a former WEC champion. As champion, the level of difficulty continues to rise with every challenger, but Edgar feels that he is more than ready to impose his will and put forth his third successful UFC title defense.

“Ben’s a tough dude. It was a good camp to prepare for him. New face, new name, let’s do it!” said Edgar at the official UFC 144 weigh-ins on Friday.

After losing his WEC lightweight title to Anthony Pettis in December 2010, Henderson has taken his entire fight game to another level. Since joining the lightweight ranks in the UFC, “Bendo” has secured three lopsided unanimous decision wins over Jim Miller, Clay Guida and Mark Bocek.

“It’s a huge opportunity. I’m excited to fight Frankie. He has a great chin and a great heart. It’s gonna be a huge challenge for me to take the belt from a champion like that,” said Henderson.

The co-main event features a light heavyweight tilt between former UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (211) and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 winner Ryan Bader (205).

This bout represents somewhat of a homecoming for Rampage, who spent the early portion of his career power-bombing foes and wooing the Japanese fans under the Pride banner. Coming off a submission loss to Jon Jones, Rampage hopes an impressive win will help him climb back into title contention.

Meanwhile, Bader hopes to reemerge as a top-10 light heavyweight. After losing back to back bouts to Jones and Tito Ortiz, “Darth” fell out of the light heavyweight rankings and onto the UFC chopping block. He dug himself out of the 0-2 hole at UFC 139, where he scored a first round knockout over Jason Brilz.

UFC 144 will air live on pay-per-view on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. The main card is expected to feature seven bouts. Before the show goes live, fans can watch one preliminary bout between Zhang Tiequan and Issei Tamura on the UFC’s Facebook page at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.

The other four prelims will air live on FX at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Facebook Preliminary Bout

Zhang Tiequan (146) vs. Issei Tamura (145)

FX Preliminary Bouts

Takeya Mizugaki (135) vs. Chris Cariaso (136)
Riki Fukuda (185) vs. Steve Cantwell (185)
Norifumi Yamamoto (136) vs. Vaughan Lee (135)
Takanori Gomi (155) vs. Eiji Mitsuoka (154)

Main Card

Anthony Pettis (155) vs. Joe Lauzon (156)
Hatsu Hioki (145) vs. Bart Palaszewski (146)
Yushin Okami (185) vs. Tim Boetsch (186)
Jake Shields (170) vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (169)
Cheick Kongo (229) vs. Mark Hunt (264)
*Quinton Jackson (211) vs. Ryan Bader (205)
Frankie Edgar (154) vs. Benson Henderson (154)

*Quinton Jackson failed to make weight and will offer up 20-percent of his purse to Ryan Bader for taking the fight.

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Dana White Tells ‘Racist’ Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to Shut Up

Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s constant beleaguering of other athletes has caught the attention of UFC President Dana White.The head of the UFC fired back at the WBC welterweight boxing champion in a recent episode of Fuel TV’s UFC Tonight.”First of all, what …

Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s constant beleaguering of other athletes has caught the attention of UFC President Dana White.

The head of the UFC fired back at the WBC welterweight boxing champion in a recent episode of Fuel TV’s UFC Tonight.

“First of all, what he said I think is racist. He’s made a couple of racist comments, and yes Floyd, you’re racist with the stuff that you said,” White proclaimed, while pointing directly into the camera.

Mayweather has taken heat lately for his racy remarks on Twitter about Asian basketball star Jeremy Lin. A point guard for the New York Knicks, Lin has captured Tim Tebow-like drama in the world of professional basketball, which has recently been dubbed “Linsanity.”

“Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise. Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine.”

“As soon as I support Black athletes, I get criticized.”

“Wow, what a country.”

“I’m speaking my mind on behalf of other NBA players. They are programmed to be politically correct and will be penalized if they speak up.”

White doesn’t see “Linsanity” as some phenomenon overlooking black athletes. He believes the craze revolves around the fact that Lin is an Asian American succeeding in the NBA, which is certainly a rare sight throughout the history of the sport.

“Jeremy Lin gets all this credit because he’s an Asian player in the NBA that African Americans never get? Yeah, he’s getting all this praise because he’s an Asian guy playing in the NBA,” said White. “And you say that African Americans don’t get it? Really, Kobe Bryant doesn’t get any praise? Michael Jordan never got any praise? The list goes on and on.

“Not only can he compete and make it in the NBA, the guy is tearing it up and breaking records you knucklehead.”

White didn’t stop there. He also addressed an old video Mayweather posted of himself going on a rather offensive rant about WBO welterweight boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.

“You said Manny Pacquiao should go make some sushi somewhere. Sushi is from Japan. He’s from the Philippines, dummy,” said White. “Don’t worry about what all these other guys are doing. You shoot your big mouth off on Twitter. What you should worry about is getting in there and making the fight that all the boxing fans want to see. Get in there and fight Manny Pacquiao.

“You don’t deserve more of the purse. If there was ever a fight in history that should be split 50-50, it’s the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. Shut up, both of you split the money up and put on the fight that everybody, including me, wants to see.”

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Gary Goodridge: ’90 Percent of Early Pride Fights Were Fixed’

For years, Pride Fighting Championships has been accused of fixing fights in the past, and now, former MMA and K-1 star Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge is ready to tell his own story of what went on behind the scenes of MMA’s former Mecca.”At the beginning,…

“At the beginning, when Pride first started, it was more like 90 percent of the fights were fixed and 10 percent were real,” Goodridge said in an interview with The MMA Digest. “As the fights went on, they became the opposite way and completely wiped out. All were real.”

Sadly, longtime fans may attribute Goodridge’s recent diatribes of bribery and scandal in the old Pride days to his recent diagnosis of pugilistic dementia, a neurodegenerative disease.

But Goodridge’s stories about the early Pride days aren’t based on assumptions or hearsay. He is speaking directly from first-hand experience.

At Pride 6, Goodridge was set to face Naoya Ogawa, but before he even stepped foot in the ring, he said his locker room was invaded with Ogawa’s cornermen looking to cut a deal.

Apparently, Goodridge was offered $20,000 to take a dive.

“No, I didn’t want no part of it,” Goodridge said. “It messed with my brain because you have the corner asking me to take a dive thinking that he’s not very well prepared or he’s not this, he’s not that, and then next thing you know, I go in there and I blow out in the first round.”

Despite passing on the bribe, Goodridge ended up losing the bout anyway due to a second-round submission.

With his fighting career behind him, Goodridge must now face the ramifications from some of the choices made throughout his elongated combat career.

Dementia pugilistica, otherwise known as punch-drunk syndrome, is a disease often attributed to combat athletes who absorb repeated concussive and sub-concussive blows to the head.

“It was definitely the K-1 kickboxing that did me in. In MMA, I never really got struck, but the K-1 kickboxing is where I got knocked out. That’s where I got my brain damage,” proclaimed Goodridge.

“Everyday is a struggle regardless if you have anything,” he said. “You just deal with what you deal with, and you carry on. If you dwell too much on things and get depressed, start weighing things down too much, that’s not who I am. I just keep moving, keep going on. I have no regrets over the whole situation.”

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Ring Girl’s Past Won’t Cost Her UFC Job

UFC ring girl Chandella Powell’s past almost came back to haunt her.Throughout the week, there were various rumors circulating around the MMA community regarding Powell’s UFC dismissal after some softcore porn pictures of her were uncovered under the a…

UFC ring girl Chandella Powell’s past almost came back to haunt her.

Throughout the week, there were various rumors circulating around the MMA community regarding Powell’s UFC dismissal after some softcore porn pictures of her were uncovered under the alias “Mariah Ashton.”

After days of silence, Powell took to Twitter to offer an apology to MMA fans and the UFC.

“When you are young, you often don’t realize that your actions have consequences. I made a bad decision about ten years ago, but you learn from these moments. There is nothing I can do to change the past, and believe me, if I could, I would. That decision doesn’t represent who I am today. All I can do now is put the past behind me and move forward. I am sorry to disappoint any of my fans and my family at Zuffa. I love you guys :).”

After releasing Natasha Wicks and Logan Stanton, the UFC recruited Powell, who worked as a bunny at the Playboy Club at the Palms Casino Resort, in 2009 to work alongside longtime Octagon girl Arianny Celeste.

Despite her new-found gig, Powell was allowed to continue to moonlight as a bunny when she wasn’t strutting circles around the UFC Octagon.

Apparently, the UFC was unaware of the past photo shoots under the “Mariah Ashton” alias.

With the Fox deal in place and UFC president Dana White‘s increased global efforts, image is becoming increasingly important in the sport, and Powell’s past “softcore porn” adventures don’t fit in the itinerary.

Ironically, Celeste and Brittney Palmer have both ventured off into Playboy for photo shoots. While Celeste graced the November 2010 issue of Playboy Magazine, Palmer is slated to make her debut in March.

An issue will likely be raised on whether or not it was fair to pass judgment on Powell in the first place.

Her photos were more revealing than Celeste’s, but all in all, she really wasn’t doing anything different from her colleagues.

Powell’s job remains safe in the UFC, and she is scheduled to travel to Japan to work the upcoming UFC 144 fight card.

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