UFC 144 (Japan) - Edgar vs. Henderson, Akiyama vs. Shields, Jackson vs. Bader (February 26)

[Rebel]

PPV Card

Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson (UFC lightweight title)
Quinton Jackson vs. Ryan Bader (light heavyweights)
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields (welterweights)
Mark Hunt vs. Cheick Kongo (heavyweights)
Takanori Gomi vs. Eiji Mitsuoka (lightweights)
Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch (middleweights)
Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszweski (featherweights)
Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon (lightweights)

Prelims (FX)

Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Leon Ademi (bantamweights)
Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell (middleweights)
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso (bantamweights)

[Joe King]

Good card. I'm rooting for Henderson to win. Rampage should win, if he doesn't, he should retire.

[Rebel]

It's hard not to root for Edgar, but I know he's not unbeatable. In fact, I believe he's a bit overrated at the moment. Therefore, it won't surprise me if Henderson dominates him.

Even at this stage Rampage should still have enough left to defeat Bader.

[TFK]

I see absolutely nothing that Henderson can bring to this fight that's gonna allow him to beat Edgar. Henderson is a very overated fighters, and for some reason, many people still underate Edgar. I see Edgar winning a shutout UD.

I agree that Rampage should retire if he can't beat Bader. Rampage hasn't looked like he's all the interested in being an MMA fighter, and with his age and declining skills, it's not wise to keep fighting if you're not 100% into what you're doing. It wouldn't shock me to see Bader sneak a decision win here. Who knows though, maybe fighting in Japan again will motivate him.

Hunt vs Kongo should look like drunken Rockem Sockem Robots until Kongo decides he wants to take Hunt down. He can then just lay on top of Hunt until he is gassed, then pound him out or grab an armbar and sub him.

TFK

[mikE]

Pretty weak card, I think. Lauzon should let Pettis shine, though.

[TLC]

8 fights on the PPV.

[TFK]

8 fights on the PPV.

The PPV lineup is...

Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson (UFC lightweight title)
Quinton Jackson vs. Ryan Bader (light heavyweights)
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields (welterweights)
Mark Hunt vs. Cheick Kongo (heavyweights)
Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon (lightweights)

The rest are on FX.

Should be a fun card.

TFK

[Valdosta]

It's hard not to root for Edgar, but I know he's not unbeatable. In fact, I believe he's a bit overrated at the moment. Therefore, it won't surprise me if Henderson dominates him.

Even at this stage Rampage should still have enough left to defeat Bader.

I don't think Edgar is overrated at all. Look how close the odds are for this fight.

[TLC]

I think Benson wins this fight, Edgar does not have the makeup of a dominant champion.

[Rebel]

I don't think Edgar is overrated at all. Look how close the odds are for this fight.

How close are they? I haven't checked. I was more referring to his current ranking on MMA p4p lists. I don't believe he's the 5th best fighter in MMA. I just don't see a dominant champion there. I hope he proves me wrong though because I am a fan. Dude has a huge heart.

[Valdosta]

How close are they? I haven't checked. I was more referring to his current ranking on MMA p4p lists. I don't believe he's the 5th best fighter in MMA. I just don't see a dominant champion there. I hope he proves me wrong though because I am a fan. Dude has a huge heart.

He's barely above even odds. His odds are as low as -115.

[TFK]

So I'm going out on a limb in the pick 'em contest and picking Bader over Rampage.

I don't think Bader is a better fighter than Rampage, I just don't think Rampage's heart is into it anymore. He's always been a bit lazy, and the beating Jon Jones put on him may have done enough damage to him mentally where he just doesn't recover.

TFK

[10 count]

Baders a bum. Hes gonna get KTFO.

[TFK]

Baders a bum. Hes gonna get KTFO.

You're probably right, but something tells me that Rampage is just gonna half ass it, and get outworked by Bader. I don't think Bader is all that good, but I think he's gonna steal a win over Rampage.

But it's certainly not a fight I'd put any serious money on.

TFK

[Rebel]

Rampage should get cut from the UFC if he loses to someone like Bader even at this stage.

[TLC]

Rampage missed weight by a half dozen pounds.

[TFK]

Makes me think an upset is even more likely.

He's blaming it on an injury, but it's just as believable to think Rampage is underestimating Bader and didn't train as serious as he should have.

TFK

[10 count]

Damn. Thinking of changing to Bader now even though he sucks. I heard that Rampage was as high as 230 earlier this week. I can see him gassing bad.

[TFK]

Pretty good prelims. Thank God they didn't bring back any of the Pride ridiculousness with the Pro Wrestling intros and that annoying screaming cunt. Although Gomi did give a speech after his fight.

TFK

[TFK]

Pettis with a great high kick KO of Lauzon. With 7 fights scheduled, I'm sure they're happy it ended quick.

TFK

[TLC]

Not really, they purchased an extra hour on the block. This just means we are going to have to see Riki Fukuda fight again.....which, while it was good fight, I hate seeing stuff I just saw.

[TFK]

Not really, they purchased an extra hour on the block. This just means we are going to have to see Riki Fukuda fight again.....which, while it was good fight, I hate seeing stuff I just saw.

I didn't realize they booked an extra hour.

I know what you mean about watching something you just saw. That's the one drawback of getting to see the prelims.

TFK

[TLC]

Yeah it's actually awful because they started at regular time, meaning the ME isn't going to be on until 1:00 AM....ridiculous.

[TFK]

Jesus, Rogan needs to turn it down a few notches.


TFK

[TFK]

That was a sweet comeback by Boetsch though.

TFK

[R_jay]

Reading the round-by-round at sherdog it seems like an entertaining card.

[TFK]

Reading the round-by-round at sherdog it seems like an entertaining card.

It's been pretty good so far.

TFK

[R_jay]

What happened in the Akiyama fight? Sherdog had Akiyama winning.

[TFK]

What happened in the Akiyama fight? Sherdog had Akiyama winning.

I only caught the end of the fight. Sheilds usually bores me to tears, so I took my dogs out while that fight was on.

TFK

[TFK]

F'n Mark Hunt wins again?

TFK