Kongo vs. Hunt, Gomi vs. Sotiropolous Amongst Latest UFC 144 Additions
By FCF Staff
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has put the finishing touches on the promotion’s upcoming February 26th return to Japan, which includes several fighters from the nation as well as the now defunct Pride.
The latest main card addition is a heavyweight bout between Cheick Kongo and Mark Hunt, who is no stranger to competing in Japan on account of his K-1 and Pride experience.
Kongo (17-6-2) will be looking to build on a two fight win streak, which includes victories over Pat Barry and most recently Matt Mitrione, who the French fighter defeated by unanimous decision at UFC 137 last month.
Hunt (7-7) has also won two straight and is coming off a UD win over Ben Rothwell at UFC 135 in September, after knocking out Chris Tuchscherer in February.
The UFC has also confirmed that former Pride champion Takanori Gomi will fight George Sotiropoulus on the preliminary card. Gomi (32-8) has dropped two straight fights to Clay Guida and Nate Diaz, while Sotiropoulus (14-4) has lost back-to-back bouts to Dennis Siver and Rafael dos Anjos.
Some of the other preliminary fights that have been confirmed for UFC 144 include Vaughan Lee vs. bantamweight Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (18-5), Chris Cariaso (12-3) vs. bantamweight Takeya Mizugaki (15-6-2 ), and featherweight Leonard Garcia (15-8-1) vs. Tiequan Zhang (15-2).
UFC 144 will be hosted the Saitama Super Arena and will feature a lightweight bout between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Ben Henderson in the main event.
Main Event
Frankie Edgar vs. Benson Henderson
Main Card
Rampage Jackson vs Ryan Bader
Mark Hunt vs Cheick Kongo
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Shields
Anthony Pettis vs Joe Lauzon
Preliminary Card
Yushin Okami vs Tim Boetsch
Takanori Gomi vs George Sotiropoulos
Hatsu Hioki vs Bart Palaszewski
Kid Yamamoto vs Vaughan Lee
Riki Fukuda vs Steve Cantwell
Takeya Mizugaki vs Chris Cariaso
Leonard Garcia vs Tiequan Zhang
Photo credit: Facebook