Those of you who did not watch UFC 144 in Japan, surely missed a great show! The one punch of knock-out of Tiequan Zhang by Issei Tamura, Boetch's incredible come back TKO of Yushin Okami, old Gomi finally showed up and finished Eiji Mitsuoka, Hatsui Hioki beat Bart Palaszewski, possibly getting a title shot with the one and only Jose Also. Riki Fukuda also looked good against Steve Cantwell. Did I forget to mention Mark Hunt's TKO of Cheik Kongo and Anthony Pettis' knockout of Joe Lauzon! Also, Jake Shields defeated Yoshihiro Akiyama via decision. Despite being able to stuff the takedowns of Shields and being the stronger fighter, Akiyama did not do enough to win the fight.
It was a spectacular night with knock-outs and come backs. I am excited to know who the UFC will pair Mark Hunt with after the amazing performance by the former K-1 fighter. I would like to see him against top ten candidate like Shane Carwin or Roy Nelson. Tim Boetch is now on a three fight win streak at middleweight. Maybe they will pair him up with Mark Munoz and the winner of that fight gets the winner or Silva Sonnen rematch. It is rumored that Anthony Pettis might get the title shot against Benson Henderson after his "shin to chin" (as Joe Rogan called it several times) knockout of Joe Lauzon! Pettis looked good in the fight.
Unfortunately, for the only fighter out of China, the Mongolian Chinese Tiequan Zhang was on the receiving end of a very brutal one punch that put him flat on the mat! Ironically, after getting some training by top trainers in Vegas, Zhang aka the Mongolian wolf did show signs of improvement in his ground game and striking, but it might have been too little too late. It will be curious to see what the UFC will do with the Wolf.
Watch the UFC 144 highlights here
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