UFC Japan gained, this Monday, another local star who marked his name in the now extinct Pride. After Rampage, Mark Hunt and Yoshihiro Akiyama, the Japanese idol Takanori Gomi was announced at the event scheduled to take place on February 26th, in Saitama, Japan.
The “Fireball Kid”, as he is known, faces the naturalized Greek Australian George Sotiropoulos and both fighters need to win to stay in the organization. Gomi, who was a former PRIDE lightweight champion, is going through one of the worst moments of his career. The Japanese had four UFC fights and only managed to win one. In its last performance, it was completed by Nate diaz at UFC 135, held in September.
In turn, Sotiropoulos is not going through a good time either. The Australian athlete emerged in the UFC with an excellent arsenal of submissions, but is coming off two consecutive defeats and needs the organization to recover. In his last fight, George was quickly knocked out by the Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 132, held in July.
Check out the complete UFC 144 card below, also called UFC Japan, which will have as its main attraction the fight for the lightweight belt, where the champion Frankie Edgar will put his reign at stake against Ben henderson.
Main Card
Frankie Edgar vs. Ben henderson – Fight valid for the lightweight belt
Ryan bader vs. Quinton “Rampage”Jackson
Cheick Kongo Vs. Mark Hunt
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields
Preliminary Card
Tim Boetsch vs. Yushin Okami
Steve Cantwell vs. Riki Fukuda
Vaughan Lee vs. Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto
Chris Cariaso vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Takanori Gomi vs. George Sotiropoulos
Hatsu Hioki and Bart Palaszewski
Leonard Garcia vs. Tiequan Zhang
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