UFC Japan saw the birth of one of MMAs five greatest talents; Kazushi The Gracie Hunter Sakuraba. Several more events would be held in the country, before SEG were bought out by the Fertitta brothers, and Zuffa LLCs era of the UFC began. For the fifth time in its near-twenty-year history, and the first time in over a decade, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will travel to the real birthplace of Mixed Martial Arts (and Jiu Jitsu), the bizarre wonderland of Japan. This great Asian country produced Shooto in 1985, produced karate, jiu jitsu and judo, and its professional wrestlers broke free of worked fights and founded Pancrase in 1993 (before the UFC) the first super-org in worldwide MMA. It hosted the incomparable PRIDE FC for ten years, and gave us the best fights and competitors that we as fans have had the privilege of watching. A stacked event, it must be said. A plethora of former stars of PRIDE, Hero*s and Dream competing on the same card is enough to make any Asian-fightsports fan salivate, regardless of it being held in the cage under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner. A nostalgic pang of sadness to see the second greatest lightweight (after Aoki) in MMA history Takanori Gomi, and former pound-for-pound great KID Yamamoto both relegated to supporting roles, these two former main-eventers now occupying roles on the undercard, but Edgar/Henderson will be a barnburner right enough, Rampage and Ryan Bader an uninspired but fun matchup, and Hunt/Kongo a typical heavyweight slugfest that even superior aficionados should openly admit to being stoked for. READ MORE UFC Japan V: Its Been A While. | FSA - FightSport Asia
If you read Big John's book, the ironic thing is that its a UFC Japan event where Zuffa made their push to buy the promotion.
