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UFC 144 Fight Card: Edgar vs. Henderson

Filed under: UFCThe entire UFC 144 fight card has been announced for the promotion’s return to Japan on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012 at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

In the main event, lightweight champion Frankie Edgar will defend his belt against forme…

Filed under: UFC

The entire UFC 144 fight card has been announced for the promotion’s return to Japan on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012 at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

In the main event, lightweight champion Frankie Edgar will defend his belt against former WEC champ Ben Henderson.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who last fought in Japan exactly six years removed from UFC 144, returns to the Land of the Rising Sun to face TUF 8 winner Ryan Bader.

Out of the 12 bouts scheduled for the card, seven of the competitors are Japanese. Check out the complete UFC 144 fight card below.

UFC 144 will air live in North America on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET.

Pay-Per-View Bouts
Frankie Edgar vs. Benson Henderson
Rampage Jackson vs. Ryan Bader
Mark Hunt vs. Cheick Kongo
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields
Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon

Preliminary Bouts
Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
Takanori Gomi vs. George Sotiropoulos
Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski
Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee
Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso
Leonard Garcia vs. Tiequan Zhang

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UFC 140: Frank Mir, Tito Ortiz, and 6 Guys Who Make It Hard to Like Them

There are some guys in the UFC that you want to like, but they just make it so hard. Maybe they’ve been around a long time and represent and era gone by, or sometimes offer up nuggets of wisdom in interviews that you appreciate, and it makes you …

But then other times they’re out there making excuses, offering backhanded compliments to opponents who thrash them, or speaking with such delusion that it leaves you flabbergasted. As a result, you reconsider anything that you like about them, and you’re left with indifference. Or worse.

It’s a fine line to walk to be a fan favourite who speaks his mind or a guy that people just don’t like.

Here are some of the dudes on the UFC roster that are trying to walk that line at the moment.

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Turns Out Rampage will be Fighting in Japan After All

(And that’s why I invented Twitter, Mr. Rampage, so men everywhere could express their feelings.)

Though we reported earlier this week that it seemed as if Quinton “Rampage” Jackson would not be getting his requested fight at UFC 144 in Japan, it turns out the former UFC light heavyweight champion will indeed be getting the wish he requested in the wake of his loss to Jon Jones at UFC 135. And though Stephan Bonnar was more than willing to face Page, the spot will be given to TUF 8 winner Ryan Bader instead.

Bader is coming off a first round knockout over Jason Brilz at UFC 139 that snapped a two fight losing streak to Jon Jones and Tito Ortiz at UFC 126 and UFC 132, respectively.

(And that’s why I invented Twitter, Mr. Rampage, so men everywhere could express their feelings.)

Bader is coming off a first round knockout over Jason Brilz at UFC 139 that snapped a two fight losing streak to Jon Jones and Tito Ortiz at UFC 126 and UFC 132, respectively.

A win for either fighter could easily launch them back into the title mix, and given Rampage earns title shots almost as easy as Urijah Faber, if he is able to finish Bader impressively, I am going as far as to predict that he leapfrogs Rashad Evans for another crack at Jones.

UFC 144 goes down February 26th at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

You know the deal, who you got for this one, Potato Nation?

-Danga

UFC 144: The UFC Is Making a Mistake by Putting Edgar-Henderson in Japan

A pair of sensational lightweights are set to square off in the land of the rising sun at UFC 144. Lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar looks to make his first title defense against someone not named Maynard or Penn, when he takes on dangerous challenge…

While the bout is expected to produce quite a bit of action given the styles of both men, neither are likely to generate any amount of interest from the Japanese crowd.

When the UFC goes international, they tend to load up the card with fighters from a selected country. Georges St-Pierre routinely fills the top bill for every Canadian card and expect to see a lot of Anderson Silva and Junior dos Santos when the UFC starts heading to Brazil.

But, without a major Japanese star to take a main event slot, the UFC was left with no other choice right?

Wrong.

Fans know that UFC 144 is more of something the UFC felt it had to do, rather than wanted to do. The card was doomed from the start given that there were no major Japanese stars in the UFC.

Even without a star, the UFC still has plenty of fighters on the roster from the Pride days that would’ve garnered a lot more attention and ticket sales than Edgar and Henderson.

The recently announced Quinton Jackson-Ryan Bader fight will likely receive more fan noise and attention than the main event.

That fight alone probably could’ve sold half the arena, as Jackson was a very popular fighter during his Pride days.

Not to say the people in Japan don’t deserve a title fight for their first card since it’s the UFC’s first time being back since UFC 29, but they could’ve sold an event better had Edgar-Henderson taken place somewhere in the United States.

The Japanese card is an afterthought for the UFC given the lack of status for the Japanese fighters in the UFC and that it will be right after the Super Bowl card.

No need to waste a title fight when the undercard bouts will draw more fan attention.

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MMA: Rampage in Japan, Aoki on NYE, Alves-Kampmann and the Week’s Biggest News

Coming off the heels of one of the most exciting weekends in recent history, the MMA world was filled this past week with fight announcements for the coming months.Most notably, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson got his wi…

Coming off the heels of one of the most exciting weekends in recent history, the MMA world was filled this past week with fight announcements for the coming months.

Most notably, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson got his wish to return Japan. The one-time Pride star will battle Ryan Bader in January.

Elsewhere in Japan, DREAM lightweight kingpin Shinya Aoki will return to action on New Year’s Eve against former Sengoku champ Satoru Kitaoka.

Additionally, an explosive welterweight battle between striking specialists Thiago Alves and Martin Kampmann is rumored, as well as a number of updates to upcoming events.

Rob Tatum is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at TheMMACorner.com. For anything related to MMA, you can follow Rob on Twitter @RobTatumMMA.

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UFC 144: Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Ryan Bader Set for Japan

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was in dire straits.Following his defeat to current 205-pound kingpin Jon Jones this September, Rampage’s lone desire was to grace the February event, which will mark the organization’s fo…

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was in dire straits.

Following his defeat to current 205-pound kingpin Jon Jones this September, Rampage’s lone desire was to grace the February event, which will mark the organization’s foray back into the Land of the Rising Sun.

UFC 144 will feature a lightweight headliner pitting Frankie Edgar against challenger Ben Henderson. Jackson was all but a shoo-in for the event, given his long and illustrious career with the now defunct Pride Fighting Championships.

However, his chances of gracing the card seemed bleak when the fan favorite tweeted that he would not be headed to the Saitama Super Arena.

Jackson retorted a short time later stating, “Guys I have the best managers n the business,this thing will work its way out, I was peed off when I 1st tweed the bad news,let’s c what’s up [sic]”

His management must be good, as Jackson will not only be prominently featured on the Japan card, but will also be taking on a big named opponent in the form of The Ultimate Fighter’s season eight winner Ryan Bader, according to UFC exec Lorenzo Fertitta.

“Darth” Bader recently snapped a two-fight skid, when he knocked out Jason Brilz last Saturday at UFC 139, cinching up the emphatic finish with a devastating right hand. It took just over one minute inside the Octagon.

Both Jackson and Bader are adept wrestlers who wield heavy punches, indicating that this battle could very well end in dramatic fashion.

The winner will likely move themselves back into the upper echelon of the division, where they will remain a win or two away at a likely shot at the light heavyweight belt sometime in the near future.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com