UFC 144 Main card
Takes place at Saitama arena in Japan
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Lightweight Championship: Frankie Edgar vs Ben Henderson
I was such a huge fan of Frankie Edgar from way back when he took a close decision against at that time Tyson Griffin. When they fought Tyson Griffin was considered the 2nd best in the division with always an exciting fight and winner of many fight of the night bonuses. Edgar beat him. The new more technical Edgar is a different fighter. I really used to enjoy his fights when he utilized his wrestling style mostly. The new Edgar is really a tactician and utilizes incredible foot work, head movement, and boxing. Ben Henderson doesn’t have the footwork or head movement to avoid Edgar’s in and out boxing style. Nor will Henderson be able to contend with his speed. However, Ben Henderson will have a power and strength advantage. The other item that Henderson will have on his side is the unbelieveable skill of submission defense.
If Ben Henderson can’t get close to Edgar, then the fight is going to go Edgar’s way. The key for Henderson here is to get Edgar up against the fence and bully him. If the fight has any kind of close fighting (unlike Edgar vs Penn) then I think Henderson has a chance to TKO Edgar on the ground. Other than that Edgar wins a decision. However, as a fan of both fighters, and always interested in seeing the underdog win, I think Henderson will find a way to win. Like he did against Jim Miller.
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs Ryan Bader
Is this Quinton’s last fight? Quinton used to fight in Pride long before he was ever in the UFC with an up and down record. He has said before fights were fixed or massaged in that organization. Quinton Jackson is revered in Japan and is a big name there. He built his persona with the chain and howl due to Japan’s love of the fighter walkout and pre-fight extravagant introductions. Quinton has shown to have conditioning problems in the past, but looked decent in his fights with Hammil and Machida. Even in defeat against Jon Jones, Jackson, looked better than expected.
I’ve wavered on this fight several times, but I’ll go with Quinton in Japan.
Heavyweight: Mark Hunt vs Cheick Kongo
As much as Mark Hunt has been around K-1 and only MMA for a few fights, he is stepping into the cage against someone has been a title contender and has fought the heavyweight’s best. Kongo won’t be taken down in this fight, but it would be interesting to see if Kongo will take Hunt down and use his strong top game to GnP him. I have Kongo winning this fight in so many ways.
Welterweight: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Shields
Jake Shields will have his hands full with Akiyama. Yoshihiro is good with punching and rolls through fighter’s defenses. Good thing for Yoshihiro is that Shields has very little defense. What Akiyama lacks Shields is excellent at. Submissions/submission defense.
Middleweight: Yushin Okami vs Tim Boetsch
Okami via TKO.
Featherweight: Hatsu Hioki vs Bart Palaszewski
Two punchers. Palaszewski has been on fire lately and surprising.
Lightweight: Anthony Pettis vs Joe Lauzon
Awesome fight. Love the matchup of Pettis who has great striking and owner of one of the best kicks in MMA history against Joe Lauzon who is the ultimate smotherer straight to submission fighter. Pettis has excellent submission defense and a great guard as well.
Two ways this goes. 1. Pettis stays on the outside and frustrates Lauzon to where he can’t get his takedown – that will go decision/tko/submission Pettis. 2. Pettis throws a kick that Lauzon catches, takes him down and finishes with his rear naked choke.
I think Lauzon finds a way to get Pettis to the ground and win rounds.
UFC 144 Preliminary card (FX)
Lightweight: Takanori Gomi vs Eiji Mitsuoka
Gomi
Bantamweight: Norifumi Yamamoto vs Vaughan Lee
The legend that is Kid Yamamoto has been fading a bit as he’s lost 4 out of 5 of his last fights. I see Yamamoto making a comeback here as he has always fought well in Japan. Fighting in Japan is different than any other country due to the crowd being quiet. Its not like the UK, Australia, Canada, or the USA. Its different. Yamamoto is used to it, Lee isn’t.
Middleweight: Riki Fukuda vs Steve Cantwell
Cantwell has been chasing that momentum he had after beating Brian Stann in the WEC for the light heavyweight belt. He has lost his last 4 fights to decision. Some were surprising losses too. Fukuda is an experienced veteran and is no easy task for Cantwell, but he is also not that big of a threat. I see the robot getting a victory in the land of robots.
Bantamweight: Takeya Mizugaki vs Chris Cariaso
Mizugaki