In the penultimate UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson match slated for the four-fight preliminary card, which kicks off at 8:30 p.m. ET on the FX channel, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto faces Vaughan Lee in a bantamweight bout.
How the mighty have fallen. At the turn of the millennium, when the acronym No Holds Barred (NHB) was giving way to MMA and Pride FC and the UFC were like warring mafia dons, there was a sharp contrast between American fights and those overseas. The Pride shows took place in a pristine white ring and were steeped in tradition, with a heavy emphasis on honor and "budo", and the way one "could hear a pin drop" was an oft-observed distinction of the respectfully silent audience. Here in the states, there was a greater focus on wrestling and the fighters snarled their way toward the ominous black cage amidst the raucous thumping of heavy metal while the "Just Bleed Guy" flexed in the background.
Kid Yamamoto (18-5) was Japanese MMA's first bad boy because he embodied the primal virility that was associated more with America's culture. Sporting a mohawk, sprinkled with tattoos and beaming a devilishly confident sneer, Kid was the incarnation of pure violence by any standards of combat. Yamamoto was unique in that he was a dominant wrestler, but even more so because he plied that ability as a means to savagely maul his opponents on the feet. Before his hiatus to pursue Olympic wrestling, Kid had firmly cemented a reputation as a cold-blooded killer and was a staple on the list of top pound-for-pound candidates. He'd lost one match due to a cut-stoppage and had one No Contest for a low blow against Josh Thomson, and the rest were highlight-reel-worthy beatdowns of epic proportions.
More UFC 144 Dissections
Fukuda vs. Cantwell | Mizugaki vs. Cariaso | Zhang vs. Tamura
His exorbitant knockout power was dealt in fan-friendly fashion that ranged from flying knees and soccer kicks to vicious boxing and ground-and-pound, resulting in fourteen stoppages (12 by TKO, 2 by sub) and three decisions in his first nineteen outings. He tore through the Shooto promotion and then graduated to K-1 Hero's, where he amplified his expanding body count with reputable names like Royler Gracie, Caol Uno, Genki Sudo, Kazuyuki Miyata (record four-second KO) and Rani Yahya, all of whom were ruthlessly throttled by Kid's kickboxing.
Yamamoto's killer instinct was unparalleled, he was a complete fighter and a bantamweight wreaking havoc against lightweights, so it was widely assumed that he'd thrive in the stateside environment. When Kid announced in 2007 that he was putting his MMA career on hold to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue Olympic wrestling, unbeknownst to him, the decision would trigger an unfortunate series of events. He dislocated his elbow in his second wrestling match at the Emperor's Cup, his Olympic dreams were dashed and he begrudgingly returned to MMA. Yamamoto dropped four of his next five, all by decision -- two in DREAM and two in the UFC -- with one measly win over Federico Lopez.
Gifs and analysis in the full entry.
A middleweight match up between Riki Fukuda and Steve Cantwell will grace the FX channel's four-piece preliminary card lineup for UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson. The FX broadcast begins Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. ET before the event's loaded seven-fight offering on the main card, which features lightweight champion Frankie Edgar defending the title against Ben Henderson.
Riki Fukuda (17-5) made his Octagon debut one year ago as the reigning DEEP middleweight champion and a fairly hyped overseas prospect, meeting Nick Ring in what turned out to be one of the most controversial decisions of 2011. Ring got the unanimous nod but nearly every media source had Fukuda penciled in as the winner. Fukuda established his vaunted wrestling prowess throughout the fight but had trouble keeping the slippery former TUFer on the mat and neither painted a demonstrative case in the stand up exchanges.
The unparalleled fervency of high-level wrestling in North American MMA is typically expected to be a shock to the system for a heralded import, yet Fukuda is an exception. His wrestling is not only adequate, but an outright specialty. Fukuda holds a pile of reputable finishes on the All-Japan College wrestling circuit in the Greco Roman and Freestyle categories. He turned heads in his first MMA turn by lasting to a decision with experienced veteran Joe Doerksen, who at the time had thirty-one fights and twenty-two submission wins under his belt.
Fukuda won eight of his next nine, which included a second-round TKO over future UFCer Brandon Wolff, before hitting a tepid four-fight stretch where he batted .500, with Joey Villasenor accounting for one of those losses in EliteXC. At this point, Fukuda would soar with a perfect seven-fight sequence that was highlighted by a win over Murilo Rua in the DREAM 8 welterweight tournament. Fukuda was paired with Rafael Natal for his sophomore effort but injured his knee in a car accident, which required surgery and sidelined the Team Grabaka fighter since his promotional debut at UFC 127 last February.
More UFC 144 Dissections
Yamamoto vs. Lee | Mizugaki vs. Cariaso | Zhang vs. Tamura
Steve "The Robot" Cantwell (7-5) was the WEC light-heavyweight champion when the league underwent its first stage of downsizing and transferred the higher weight classes to the UFC. He left the promotion with only one blemish to Brian Stann after seven outings, but Cantwell avenged the TKO loss by returning the favor in the second round of their rematch, snaring the 205-pound strap in the process.
Cantwell, a BJJ black belt and laudably creative kickboxer, scored a gruesome and cringe-worthy submission win over Roufusport product Razak Al-Hassan in his Octagon debut. From the mount, Cantwell spun for a smooth armbar and then readjusted his angle when Al-Hassan tried to scramble free, treating the at-home viewers to the garish realities of the "tap or snap" catchphrase. The wheels would fall off for Cantwell in his remaining four, as perilous strikers Luiz Cane and Cyrille Diabate out-gunned him on the feet and Stann sealed their trilogy with a win in the rubber match.
The three-fight skid inspired a drop to the middleweight division. In his 185-pound premiere, Cantwell started strong but faded out against Team Bombsquad southpaw Mike Massenzio, who handed him his fourth consecutive loss by decision at UFC 136.
Gifs and analysis in the full entry.
Preceding the pay-per-view portion of UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson from Tokyo, Japan this Saturday night, the FX channel will broadcast four preliminary match ups. The undercard festivities are slated for 8:30 p.m. ET and will feature the following lineup, the last of which will be analyzed herein:
Takanori Gomi vs. Eiji Mitsuoka
Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee
Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso
Takeya Mizugaki (15-6) vs. Chris Cariaso (12-3)
Twenty-eight year old Japanese bantamweight Takeya Mizugaki introduced himself to American fans in style. He made his WEC and stateside debut against then-champ Miguel Torres at WEC 40. Torres was on his obscene seventeen-fight roll at the time and dominating all comers, and Mizugaki came in as unknown and traded haymakers for all five rounds in an fan-friendly decision loss.
He would see-saw in a win-loss pattern throughout his remaining tour through the 135-pound division, which consisted of Jeff Curran (split-decision win), Scott Jorgensen (decision loss; Fight of the Night), Rani Yahya (decision win), Urijah Faber (rear-naked choke loss), Reuben Duran (split-decision win), Brian Bowles (decision loss) and Cole Escovedo (TKO win). Coming up in Japan, Mizugaki was a regular in Shooto where he started hot with six in a row, but finished cold with two losses (Kenji Osawa, Atsushi Yamamoto) and two draws (#10 bantamweight Masakatsu Ueda, Ryota Masune). He then notched five straight under the Greatest Common Multiple (GCM) banner and won their Cage Force bantamweight tournament in the process.
More UFC 144 Dissections
Yamamoto vs. Lee | Fukuda vs. Cantwell | Mizugaki vs. Cariaso
Of the three losses on Chris "Kamikaze" Cariaso's résumé, one is perfectly understandable -- a submission loss to surging Brazilian Renan Barao -- and another might be just as promising as any of his wins. Cariaso tackled Michael McDonald, an ultra-talented prospect, and was edged out in an evenly contested split decision. While the outcome was not a controversial hotbed, two of the three writers on Sherdog scored the match for Cariaso who, at the very least, demonstrated his top-shelf potential in defeat.
Since he signed with the WEC in 2010, Cariaso's path on the big stage has been congruent to Mizugaki's in that he's alternated sequential wins and losses. He debuted at WEC 49 with a unanimous decision over Rafael Rebello and tacked on decision wins over Will Campuzano (unanimous) and Vaughan Lee (split) after his unsuccessful turns against Barao and McDonald.
Gifs and analysis in the full entry.
This Saturday, the 25th of February, marks the UFC's return to Japan for the first time in over a decade. Before the promotion was purchased by Zuffa, the SEG-owned league ventured to The Land of the Rising Sun on four different occasions: Ultimate Japan in 1997 (which staged the premiere of all-time great Kazushi Sakuraba), Ultimate Japan 2 and 3 in 1999 and 2000 and UFC 29: Defense of the Belts, also in 2000.
UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson will occupy the renowned Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo and treat the fans in attendance to the UFC's best and most popular Japanese fighters. The show is headlined by a lightweight championship bout pitting Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson and complemented by hometown favorite Quinton Jackson taking on Ryan Bader in the co-main. A monumental seven fights are pegged for the show's main card with four preliminary match ups slated to air on the FX channel and one on Facebook.
The lone Facebook bout will showcase Chinese standout Tiequan Zhang (15-2) vs. Issei Tamura (6-2). Tamura is replacing Leonard Garcia, who was originally paired with Zhang but forced to withdraw with an injury. He's been a staple in Shooto and won the longstanding feeder promotion's 2008 "Rookie Tournament." Tamura started off with a flawless record after five outings but has since dropped two of his last three; his best wins are over Australian bantamweight Gustavo Falciroli (9-3) and scrappy Japanese journeyman Katsuya Toida. Tamura reps Kid Yamamoto's Krazy Bee fight team and all but one of his six victories have come via decision.
More UFC 144 Dissections
Yamamoto vs. Lee | Fukuda vs. Cantwell | Mizugaki vs. Cariaso
Zhang came on to the stateside scene as an undefeated and highly touted Chinese prospect and lived up to the hype with a first-round submission of Pablo Garza at WEC 51, but suffered his first career defeat to Danny Downes by decision at WEC 53. "The Mongolian Wolf" has since split results in the UFC by tapping Jason Reinhardt with a guillotine at UFC 127 and losing a decision to tenacious wrestler Darren Elkins at UFC 136. Zhang has finished each of his fifteen wins with twelve submissions and three TKOs.
Gifs and analysis in the full entry.
Alexander Gustafsson (13-1) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (20-5)
Alessio Sakara (15-8, 1 NC) vs. Brian Stann (11-4)
Siyar Bahadurzada (20-4-1) vs. Paulo Thiago (14-3)
DaMarques Johnson (16-9) vs. John Maguire (17-3)
Nate Diaz (15-7) vs. Jim Miller (21-3)
Josh Koscheck (17-5) vs. Johny Hendricks (12-1)
Alan Belcher (17-6) vs. Rousimar Palhares (14-3)
Pat Barry (7-4) vs. Lavar Johnson (16-5)
Thiago Alves (19-8) vs. Martin Kampmann (18-5)
Joseph Benavidez (15-2) vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani (19-4-6) [Flyweight Semi-Final]
Demetrious Johnson (10-2) vs. Ian McCall (11-2) [Flyweight Semi-Final]
Court McGee (13-1) vs. Constantinos Philippou (9-2, 1 NC)
The UFC was in Omaha, Nebraska for Wednesday's debut UFC Fight Night on Fuel TV. MMA Weekly reported the gate and attendance figures as 6,283 attendees for a total of $405,895 in receipts.
MMA Mania points out that the numbers were down a bit from the UFC's last visit to Warren Buffett's hometown:
Those numbers are down from the promotion's previous trip to Omaha for UFC Fight Night 15: "Diaz vs. Neer," back on Sept. 17, 2008, which garnered 9,103 fans for a $700,000 live gate.
UFC on Fuel TV featured a headliner between welterweight contenders Jake Ellenberger and Diego Sanchez. Ellenberger survived a third round scare to garner a unanimous decision win. The co-main event saw heavyweight Stefan Struve get a second round TKO over Dave "Pee Wee" Herman.
The promotion handed out $50,000 Fight Night bonuses to Ivan Menjivar for Submission of the Night, Stipe Miocic for Knock Out of the Night and Sanchez and Ellenberger for Fight of the Night.
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