Josh barnett and Roy Nelson battled for 5 rounds last weekend at UFC Japan.

Barnett came out on top with a unanimous decision win.

Click to watch the highlights.

Poster do UFC Japão. Foto: UFC/Divulgação

Yushin Okami will square off with knockout-savvy Olympic judoka Hector Lombard at March 3’s UFC on on FUEL 8 in Japan, the UFC announced on Tuesday.

Okami (29-7), one of the UFC’s great Japanese hopes, is riding the wake of back-to-back wins, the latest being over Alan Belcher at UFC 155.

Lombard (32-3-1) most recently knocked out Rousimar Palhares in the first round at UFC on FX 6. Though Lombard comes from a judo background, the 18 knockouts on his record are testament to his having some serious fistic skills as well.

The UFC on Fuel 8, or UFC Japan, headliner has Wanderlei Silva taking on Brian Stann in a catchweight bout. Additionally, a heavyweight tilt pitting Mark Hunt against Stefan Struve and a lightweight one between Takanori Gomes and Diego Sanchez are also featured on the card.

UFC on FUEL 8
Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan
March 2, 2013

• Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann
• Stefan Struve vs. Mark Hunt
• Takanori Gomi vs. Diego Sanchez
• Hector Lombard vs.  Yushin Okami
• Dong Hyun Kim vs. Siyar Bahadurzada
• Mizuto Hirota vs. Rani Yahya
• Riki Fukuda vs. Brad Tavares
• Takeya Mizugaki vs. Bryan Caraway
• Cristiano Marcello vs. Kazuki Tokudome
• Alex Caceres vs. Kyung Ho Kang
• Marcelo Guimarães vs. Hyun Gyu Lim

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visit GRACIEMAG.com’s Choke MMA section

Wanderlei Silva kicks Rich Franklin during their UFC 147 bout in Brazil. Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Wanderlei Silva and Brian Stann will face each other in the main event at UFC on FUEL TV 8 in Japan, the company announced late Wednesday evening.

The match-up headlines the event, which takes place March 2 at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo.

Although both fighters have fought at middleweight for the last two years, the UFC pits the two one weight class higher at light heavyweight.

Silva (34-12-1) last fought at UFC 147 in a loss to former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin. The bout was a rematch to their catchweight bout at UFC 99 from June 2009. Silva’s last fight at 205 pounds was against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 92, a bout that he lost by first-round knockout.

Stann (12-5), a former WEC light heavyweight champion, is fresh off a unanimous decision loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 152 in September. Stann’s last attempt at light heavyweight was against Phil Davis at UFC 109 in February 2010. Davis topped Stann by unanimous decision in the contest.

UFC officials also confirmed a previous GRACIEMAG.com report that Stefan Struve and Mark Hunt will meet at the event in a heavyweight bout. The contest will be the card’s co-main event.

UFC on FUEL TV 8 will be the UFC’s first trip to Japan since February at UFC 144.

For more UFC and MMA coverage,

visit GRACIEMAG.com’s Choke MMA section

Ben entre os jovens irmãos Broadnax, em campeonato de Jiu-Jitsu no Arizona. Foto: Many Weapons.

Lutador completo é o que gosta de se testar nas mais diferentes situações. É especialmente por isso que Ben Henderson é um desafiante de respeito para Frankie Edgar, o campeão dos leves, no UFC 144 de domingo, na Saitama Super Arena (sábado no Ocidente, com transmissão do canal Combate).

Para o leitor, o que Ben Henderson pode aprontar no UFC Japão no chão? Como você percebe aqui, numa de suas lutas no Mundial de Jiu-Jitsu 2011, na Califórnia, o desafiante tem habilidades.

UFC 144 Japão

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama

Domingo, 26 de fevereiro de 2012 

Frankie Edgar vs Ben Henderson
Quinton Jackson vs Ryan Bader
Mark Hunt vs Cheick Kongo
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Shields
Yushin Okami vs Tim Boetsch
Hatsu Hioki vs Bart Palaszewski
Anthony Pettis vs Joe Lauzon

Evento Preliminar (FX)

Takanori Gomi vs Eiji Mitsuoka
Norifumi Yamamoto vs Vaughan Lee
Riki Fukuda vs Steve Cantwell
Takeya Mizugaki vs Chris Cariaso

Evento Preliminar (Facebook)

Zhang Tiequan vs Issei Tamura

Ben between the Broadnax brothers at a Jiu-Jitsu championship in Arizona / Photo: Many Weapons

A complete fighter is one who likes testing himself in different situations. That’s one of the main reason is a worthy challenger to Frankie Edgar’s lightweight throne at UFC 144 this Sunday (Saturday in the West) at the Saitama Super Arena.

To you, gentle reader, what might Ben Henderson pull off with his ground game at UFC Japan? As you can see here, in one of his matches from the 2011 World Championship, the challenger’s got skills.

UFC 144 Japan

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama

Sunday, February 26, 2012 

Frankie Edgar vs Ben Henderson
Quinton Jackson vs Ryan Bader
Mark Hunt vs Cheick Kongo
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Shields
Yushin Okami vs Tim Boetsch
Hatsu Hioki vs Bart Palaszewski
Anthony Pettis vs Joe Lauzon

Evento Preliminar (FX)

Takanori Gomi vs Eiji Mitsuoka
Norifumi Yamamoto vs Vaughan Lee
Riki Fukuda vs Steve Cantwell
Takeya Mizugaki vs Chris Cariaso

Evento Preliminar (Facebook)

Zhang Tiequan vs Issei Tamura

Shields punishes Miller from the mount, in photo by Esther Lin/Strikeforce

Unable to make the impact in the UFC welterweight division he would have liked to, Jake Shields is now toying with the idea of returning to the middleweight division, where he had a long run beating top-flight competition. “It’s something I’ve thought about before and I was thinking about it [before] this fight, but they offered me this fight [and] I took it. Especially with my teammate, Nick Diaz, challenging for the welterweight title, it’s definitely in the back of my mind going up to 185 [pounds],” the black belt is quoted as saying on the MMAWeekly.com website.

At middleweight Shields won the Strikeforce title and even beat the likes of Dan Henderson and Jason Miller. At welterweight he didn’t see the same fortune, struggling to eke out a split decision over Martin Kampmann, losing his title bid to Georges Saint-Pierre, and losing to Jake Ellenberger by TKO.

A Cesar Gracie student and training partner to Nick and Nate Diaz, Shields sees a move up as a way to avoid not putting a strain on his longtime friendships. “I’d fight sparring partners, but [Nick and I] are different. We trained together for, like, 11 years; so it’s a little different. We’re not just casual sparring partners. There’s a big difference,” he says in the same article.

Shields’s next date in the octagon comes at UFC 144 against judo stylist Yoshihiro Akiyama, who will be making his welterweight debut. The event will be held February 26 at Japan’s traditional Saitama Super Arena, and the main event is a thrilling lightweight title showdown between champion Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson. Check out the card:

UFC 144
Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japão
26 de fevereiro de 2012

Frankie Edgar vs Ben Henderson
Quinton Jackson vs Ryan Bader
Cheick Kongo vs Mark Hunt
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Shields
Joe Lauzon vs Anthony Pettis
Yushin Okami vs Tim Boetsch
Riki Fukuda vs Steve Cantwell
Norifumi Yamamoto vs Vaughan Lee
Takanori Gomi vs George Sotiropoulos
Takeya Mizugaki vs Chris Cariaso
Tiequan Zhang vs Leonard Garcia
Hatsu Hioki vs Bart Palaszewski