It was with considerable fanfare in September that the UFC announced its first trip back to Japan since the year 2000.
Given that country’s important role in the evolution of “modern” MMA, it’s pretty tempting to cast Saturday’s UFC 144 as something more than just another step in the company’s ongoing international expansion. Japan was once the capital of a burgeoning MMA world; the fact that the UFC will now put boots on the ground there for the first time since its buyout of the Pride organization in 2007 has to mean, well, something.
But what, exactly?
Full story: UFC in Japan: Just business as usual?