UFC 144: Greatest Fight Card Ever?

On February 26th, 2012, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will travel to Saitama, Japan for UFC 144.

The highly anticipated event will take place at the sold out Saitama Super Arena beginning at 7:00 p.m. PT and 10:00 p.m. ET.

It will be the first time the UFC will hold an event in Japan since December of 2000 when they hosted UFC 29 in Tokyo, Japan.

The entire fight card has been set. It consists of five main-card fights and seven preliminary bouts.

While the event itself will certainly have to live up to the hype, it has the making for not only one of the best fight cards of the new year, but in UFC history.

The following are the seven preliminary bouts for UFC 144:

Tiequan Zhang vs. Leonard Garcia

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso

Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell

"Kid" Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee

Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski

Takanori Gomi vs. George Sotiropoulos

Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch

While the preliminary card is one of the best the UFC has ever revealed, the main card is worth even more hype:

Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon

After frequent words between the two, it was finally set in stone that Anthony Pettis would meet Joe Lauzon at UFC 144. Following a loss to Clay Guida at the Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale, Pettis bounced back with a split decision win over Jeremy Stephens at UFC 136. Lauzon is coming off the biggest upset of his career as he submitted Melvin Guillard just under a minute into Round 1 at UFC 136.

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields

In arguably the most important fight of his career, Yoshihiro Akiyama will fight for his life as he's lost three consecutive bouts inside the Octagon. However, he won't be the only one looking to bounce back as Jake Shields is coming off two consecutive losses himself. Despite their recent droughts, this has the potential to be one of the most exciting bouts of the night.  

Mark Hunt vs. Cheick Kongo

After the biggest win of his career over Ben Rothwell at UFC 135, Mark Hunt will face his toughest opponent to date in Cheick Kongo. Many fans were surprised to see Kongo placed on the Japan card as Hunt has lost six of his last eight bouts. Regardless, this heavyweight bout will promote one contender and establish one pretender.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Ryan Bader

When the calendar strikes January 26th, it's do or die for both Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Ryan Bader. Whether or not Jackson's considered an elite light heavyweight, he hasn't demonstrated his killer instinct for nearly three years. A loss for Bader would be his third defeat in his last four outings. This 205-pound matchup has the ingredients for Fight of the Night or "Bust of the Night."

Championship Fight: Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson

In arguably the most anticipated bout of the evening, Frankie Edgar will enter the Octagon and put his lightweight gold up for grabs against number one contender, Ben Henderson. Win, lose, or draw it's certain that Edgar will display unquestionable heart when he takes on arguably the strongest 155-pound fighter in the UFC. Henderson could very well be the man to dethrone the current lightweight champion in Edgar. However, nothing comes easy against Edgar.

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