Despite dropping three of his four bouts under the UFC’s watch, including his last two scraps, former PrideFC lightweight champion Takanori Gomi (Pictured) has been added to the company’s show in Japan. “The Fireball Kid” will face George Sotiropoulos on February 26th inside the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama.
Speaking of two-fight losing skids, Sotiropoulos will also enter The Land of the Rising Sun in desperate need of a victory. Prior to his current losing streak, the once-promising 155-pounder had won eight consecutive contests.
Gomi was last seen getting submitted by Nate Diaz at UFC 135 this past September. He tapped out to Clay Guida and Kenny Florian in his other Octagon losses. The 33-year-old’s lone victory in the big leagues came in a quick knockout of Tyson Griffin.
UFC 144 will be headlined by a lightweight title bout between champion Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson. No word from the organization on how the card will be made available for viewing.
Here are the athletes expected to appear in the extravaganza:
Preliminary Bouts:
Tiequan Zhang vs. Leonard Garcia
Takanori Gomi vs. George Sotiropoulos
Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso
Steve Cantwell vs. Riki Fukuda
Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski
Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
Main Bouts:
Cheick Kongo vs. Mark Hunt
Joe Lauzon vs. Anthony Pettis
Jake Shields vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Ryan Bader
Ben Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar (UFC Lightweight Champion)
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