UFC 144: The UFC Is Making a Mistake by Putting Edgar-Henderson in Japan

A pair of sensational lightweights are set to square off in the land of the rising sun at UFC 144. Lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar looks to make his first title defense against someone not named Maynard or Penn, when he takes on dangerous challenger, Ben Henderson.

While the bout is expected to produce quite a bit of action given the styles of both men, neither are likely to generate any amount of interest from the Japanese crowd.

When the UFC goes international, they tend to load up the card with fighters from a selected country. Georges St-Pierre routinely fills the top bill for every Canadian card and expect to see a lot of Anderson Silva and Junior dos Santos when the UFC starts heading to Brazil.

But, without a major Japanese star to take a main event slot, the UFC was left with no other choice right?

Wrong.

Fans know that UFC 144 is more of something the UFC felt it had to do, rather than wanted to do. The card was doomed from the start given that there were no major Japanese stars in the UFC.

Even without a star, the UFC still has plenty of fighters on the roster from the Pride days that would've garnered a lot more attention and ticket sales than Edgar and Henderson.

The recently announced Quinton Jackson-Ryan Bader fight will likely receive more fan noise and attention than the main event.

That fight alone probably could've sold half the arena, as Jackson was a very popular fighter during his Pride days.

Not to say the people in Japan don't deserve a title fight for their first card since it's the UFC's first time being back since UFC 29, but they could've sold an event better had Edgar-Henderson taken place somewhere in the United States.

The Japanese card is an afterthought for the UFC given the lack of status for the Japanese fighters in the UFC and that it will be right after the Super Bowl card.

No need to waste a title fight when the undercard bouts will draw more fan attention.