UFC 144 Fight Card: The 10 Best Cards Contested Outside North America

This Saturday, the UFC will be bringing one of the best cards in history to Japan for UFC 144.

The lightweight title will be on the line with Frankie Edgar against Benson Henderson, and Rampage Jackson returns to the place where he made a name for himself, this time facing off against Ryan Bader.

This is likely one of the most stacked cards in MMA history, and definitely one of the best cards outside of North America.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the 10 best cards—in no particular order—contested outside of North America.

UFC 142

UFC 142 took place in Brazil on January 19, 2012, and was not expected to be a great card by any means. In fact, it only did 225,000 PPV buys.

A lot of fans missed out on a great card.

On the prelims, there were exciting fights all around, and the crowd was pumped for the main card.

Then, to kick off the PPV, Edson Barboza delivered a highlight reel spinning wheel kick knockout over Terry Etim.

After that, Erick Silva should have earned a 29 second TKO, Rousimar Palhares took home the leg of Mike Massenzio, and Vitor Belfort submitted Anthony Johnson.

Then in the main event, Jose Aldo knocked out Chad Mendes with just one second left on the clock in the first round.

UFC 138

UFC 138 took place in England on November 5, 2011. This was another card that was not considered a "stacked" card, but the UFC delivered once again.

This event, which was free on Spike TV, featured five very exciting fights on the main card.

First, Terry Etim submitted Edward Faaloloto with a guillotine choke in just 17 seconds. After that, Anthony Perosh submitted Cyrille Diabate with a rear-naked choke in the second round.

Then, Thiago Alves returned to the win column with the first submission hold of his career, as he choked out Papy Abedi.

The co-main event featured Renan Barao facing Brad Pickett, and Barao destroyed Pickett, and earned the first round rear naked choke.

Then, the main event had Chris Leben facing Mark Munoz, and Munoz won at the end of the second round, as Leben could no longer see.

UFC 134

This one had to appear on here, as it was arguably one of the most successful UFC events ever.

UFC 134 took place in Brazil on August 27, 2011, and featured Anderson Silva against Yushin Okami for the middleweight title.

The first fight on the PPV had Stanislav Nedkov make his presence known in the UFC, as he knocked out Luiz Cane in the first round.

That was followed by the resurgent Minotauro Nogueira knocking out Brendan Schaub in the first round in a huge upset.

After that, Ross Pearson fought Edson Barboza, and dropped a split decision.

The co-main event featured Shogun Rua avenging his earlier career loss to Forrest Griffin, as he earned the first round knockout.

Then "The Spider" got into the cage, and we all know what happened.

He TKO'd Yushin Okami in the second round, and didn't even look like he was trying. He's that good.

UFC 110

UFC 110 took place in Australia on February 21, 2010. The main event featured Cain Velasquez against Minotauro Nogueira.

The first fight on the main card had Mirko Cro Cop get back in the win column as he earned a doctor stoppage over Anthony Perosh after the second round.

After that was Ryan Bader's third round knockout over Keith Jardine, and the win that showed the division he was a serious threat.

The next two fights were decision wins, and each was very important for the winning fighter.

First, George Sotiropoulos put himself "in the mix" in the lightweight division with a win over Joe Stevenson, and then, Wanderlei Silva showed he still has some fight left as he earned a decision over Michael Bisping.

In the main event, Cain Velasquez earned his shot at the heavyweight title as he knocked out Minotauro Nogueira in just over two minutes.

UFC 95

UFC 95 took place in England on February 21, 2009. The main event featured Diego Sanchez against Joe Stevenson, and the co-main event had Dan Hardy against Rory Markham.

This card was awesome on more than just the main card though. The prelims featured Junior dos Santos taking out Stefan Struve in just 54 seconds, and Terry Etim earning a TKO with a head kick and punches.

Then on the main card, Paulo Thiago upset Josh Koscheck, as he knocked him out with a huge uppercut in round one.

After that, Demian Maia took down Chael Sonnen, and rolled him right into a triangle choke, which earned him submission of the night honors.

What many fans remember about the next fight between Nate Marquardt and Wilson Gouveia is the Street Fighter-esque combo that he threw as he was going for the finish, as he threw a spinning backfist into a spinning back kick.

Then in the co-main event, Dan Hardy knocked out Rory Markham, and in the main event, well, Diego Sanchez fought and won a unanimous decision.

You know right away it was an awesome fight.

UFC 93

UFC 93 took place in Ireland on January 17, 2009. The main event featured Rich Franklin taking on Dan Henderson with a chance to coach on The Ultimate Fighter, and the co-main event had Mark Coleman rematching Mauricio Rua from a fight during their Pride days.

The first fight on the main card had Chris Lytle and Marcus Davis both going at it, and Davis did a better job at landing shots than Lytle, and Davis took the split decision.

Then, Alan Belcher upset Denis Kang with a second round guillotine choke.

In the co-main event, Shogun Rua avenged an earlier loss in his career against Mark Coleman, as he defeated Coleman by TKO at 4:36 of round three.

Then, the main event had Dan Henderson against Rich Franklin, and, in an extremely close fight, Henderson took home the split decision victory.

UFC 80

UFC 80 took place in England on January 19, 2008. The main event was a lightweight title match between BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson, and the co-main event had Gabriel Gonzaga against Fabricio Werdum.

On the prelims, Paul Taylor took on Paul Kelly, and those two put on an outstanding fight, which ended up earning fight of the night awards.

To kick off the main card, Jorge Rivera TKO'd Kendall Grove just over one minute into the first round.

Another knockout came in the fight right after that, as Wilson Gouveia earned knockout of the night honors for his second round win over Jason Lambert.

Then, a third knockout came next, as Marcus Davis earned the win over Jess Liaudin in just 1:04 in the first round.

The co-main event had Fabricio Werdum earn the TKO victory over Gabriel Gonzaga at 4:34 of the second round.

The main event was a matchup for the vacant lightweight title featuring BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson. As you might expect, Penn won the fight via second round rear-naked choke.

UFC 75

UFC 75 took place in England on September 8, 2007. The main event featured a UFC and Pride light heavyweight—or middleweight—title unification bout between UFC light heavyweight champ, Rampage Jackson and Pride middleweight champ, Dan Henderson.

The first fight on the main card had Houston Alexander knock out Alessio Sakara at just 1:01 of the first round.

After that, Paul Taylor and Marcus Davis had an outstanding, but brief fight, in which Taylor dropped Davis with a head kick, but Davis was able to recover and get an armbar submission in the first round.

After that, Cheick Kongo defeated Mirko Cro Cop by unanimous decision, which basically signaled the end of Cro Cop as a threat in the heavyweight division.

The co-main event had Michael Bisping face Matt Hamill in what turned out to be one of the most controversial decisions in UFC history. Bisping earned the win on the scorecards, but many thought Hamill should have won.

Then the main event featured Rampage Jackson looking to defend and unify his title against Dan Henderson and the Pride middleweight title. In a good fight, Rampage won the decision and defeated Dan Henderson.

UFC 38

UFC 38 took place in England on July 13, 2002. The main event had Matt Hughes facing Carlos Newton with the welterweight title on the line. The co-main event had Frank Mir facing off against Ian Freeman.

In the first three fights on the main card, you had Phillip Miller win a decision over James Zikic, Genki Sudo submit Leigh Remedios, and Mark Weir knock out Eugene Jackson.

The co-main event had Frank Mir suffering his first loss of his career, as he was TKO'd at 4:35 of round one by Ian Freeman.

The main event had the rematch between Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton, and this time, there was no controversy, as Hughes earned a fourth round TKO victory to defend his welterweight title.

UFC Brazil

UFC Brazil took place in Brazil on October 16, 1998. The main event featured Frank Shamrock defending his light heavyweight title against John Lober. The co-main event had the iconic match between Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort.

Earlier on the main card, the welterweight—then known as lightweight—title was on the line as Pat Miletich faced off against Mikey Burnett for the vacant title. Miletich won via decision after 21 minutes.

After that, Pedro Rizzo faced David "Tank" Abbott, and Rizzo got the better of Abbott in that fight, earning the knockout after just eight minutes.

Then, the co-main event between Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort took a mere 44 seconds, as Belfort hurt Silva, then chased him across the Octagon and finished him off.

Finally, the main event had Frank Shamrock looking to defend his title for the third time against John Lober. Shamrock would succeed, as he forced Lober to submit to punches after 7:41.

Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow me on twitter @TimMcTiernan.