Tag: UFC on Fuel 8

Diego Sanchez May Fight Takanori Gomi at UFC on Fuel 8 in Japan

Can “The Fireball Kid” survive “The Dream” with a home court advantage?That’s the question we might be asking if a fight between Takanori Gomi and Diego Sanchez is made official for UFC on Fuel 8, the promotion’s next card in Japan.Judging by a recent …

Can “The Fireball Kid” survive “The Dream” with a home court advantage?

That’s the question we might be asking if a fight between Takanori Gomi and Diego Sanchez is made official for UFC on Fuel 8, the promotion’s next card in Japan.

Judging by a recent Twitter post from Sanchez, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva is currently waiting on Gomi to sign off for that match, which will likely take place on the main card:

 

Sanchez is returning to the lightweight division after his recent 2-2 welterweight run ended in a close decision loss against Jake Ellenberger at UFC on Fuel 1 last February. Despite the middling record, Sanchez nonetheless racked up three consecutive “Fight of the Night” awards.

Gomi, on the other hand, is coming off his first back-to-back wins since joining the UFC in March 2010. He also just won a “Fight of the Night” split decision against Mac Danzig at UFC on Fuel 6 in Macau, China.

No bouts have been announced or confirmed for the UFC on Fuel 8 card yet, although the promotion is expected to stack the event with as much Japanese talent on the roster as possible. Currently, that list includes the following fighters (without pre-existing bouts): Yoshihiro Akiyama, Takeya Mizugaki, Riki Fukuda and Yasuhiro Urushitani. 

Sanchez recently created a stir on Twitter by claiming welterweight title contender Nick Diaz is “scared” of fighting him in a rematch of their Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale main-event brawl. However, it’s a bout that’s unlikely to happen with Diaz still suspended (and unlicensed) following a positive marijuana drug test and Sanchez dropping down to 155 pounds once again.

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UFC on Fuel TV 8 Will Take Place March 2 in Saitama, Japan

Dana White and the UFC are going to be doing a lot of flying this spring.In a rush of announcements from Tuesday’s broadcast of UFC Tonight on Fuel TV, the promotion confirmed that their previously revealed Japan card would indeed be a Fuel TV sho…

Dana White and the UFC are going to be doing a lot of flying this spring.

In a rush of announcements from Tuesday’s broadcast of UFC Tonight on Fuel TV, the promotion confirmed that their previously revealed Japan card would indeed be a Fuel TV show.

As such, UFC on Fuel TV 8 will take place March 2 at the Saitama Super Arena, just north of Tokyo.

In addition to UFC 157—also announced on Tuesday’s edition of UFC Tonight—that makes six events during a seven-week stretch for the promotion. Only two of them will be pay-per-view, however, giving fight fans’ wallets a brief respite.

Here’s how the busy fight calendar looks for January and February 2013 so far:

  • UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Bisping—January 19, 2013 (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
  • UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Dodson—January 26, 2013 (United Center, Chicago)
  • UFC 156: Aldo vs. Edgar—February 2, 2013 (Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas)
  • UFC on Fuel TV 7—February 16, 2013 (TBA)
  • UFC 157—February 23, 2013 (Honda Center, Anaheim)
  • UFC on Fuel TV 8 —March 3, 2013 (Saitama Super Arena, Japan)

Like UFC 144, the live UFC on Fuel TV 8 event takes place on a Sunday in Japan, which makes it a Saturday night show for North American audiences. That seemed to work out well enough, as UFC’s first Japan event in over a decade drew an attendance of 20,000.

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