Ryan Bader vs. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson set for UFC 144 in Japan by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Nov 24, 2011 at 3:00 pm ET Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (32-9 MMA, 7-3 UFC) will get his wish. UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta today revealed to ESPN.com that the promotion has granted the former champion his request for a fight in Japan, and Ryan Bader (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) will now oppose him at UFC 144. UFC 144 is set for Feb. 26 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Broadcast plans for the event have yet to be announced. Earlier this week, Jackson claimed he was unlikely to fight on the card and openly expressed his frustration at the UFC's decision. "It don't look like I'm fighting in Japan, which I'm not happy about at all," Jackson wrote on his official Twitter account. "I think its a big mistake by the UFC." Later that day, Jackson appeared a little more optimistic. "Guys, I have the best managers in the business," Jackson stated. "This thing will work its way out." Jackson, of course, has a long history of fighting in Japan. The former PRIDE superstar fought 18 times in Japan between 2001 and 2006. He'll return to Japan looking to rebound from a UFC 135 loss to current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Meanwhile, Bader looks to build on the strength of a UFC 139 win over Jason Brilz. The much-needed result snapped a two-fight losing streak for the winner of "The Ultimate Fighter 8."
ufc 144 is a bit odd. it's stacked full of japanese fighters (that should've been fired had it not been for this event), but most of them (including Okami) will be showcased on the preliminaries. only guy who's fighting on the main card is Akiyama (who's actually a korean born in japan) because he's fighting another name fighter in jake shields.
That makes sense, he looks more Korean than Japanese. Pretty funny that he changed his name to a Japanese one :: Also, considering he was born in Osaka, how the fuck did it take until 2001 to get Japanese citizenship? You'd think he would have had it at birth.
Nothing is easy for Rampage nowadays. The dude absolutely CAN NOT pull the trigger anymore. I still think he can beat Bader, but I wouldn't bet on Rampage at this point.
in japan, you have the right to retain your citizenship from your orgin, so akiyama's grandpa was born in korea and moved to japan and fathered akiyama's dad, who still holds his korean citizenship to this day. i think that also might be the case in korea. not sure how that works. i watched a korean made documentary on akiyama and it was very interesting. when he was competing judo in college, he was ineligeable or something to rep japan since he didnt hold a citizenship that and he was losing close fights in trials in order to qualify for the national team or something. so he actually transferred to a college in korea, but kept getting robbed in close matches, so he got mad, went back to japan and got his citizenship so he can rep japan instead. he can speak korean, but not all that fluent. his dad's korean's limited as well and it's his mom who's a true korean from korea.
Rampage doesn't even want to fight anymore, the guys just goes through the motions. He's shot. I could see Bader wrestling Rampage to a UD.
