UFC Officially Announces Return to Japan on February 2012

[WrestlingSmarks News]

The UFC held a press conference in Tokyo a few moments ago where Mark Fischer, the Zuffa Asia Managing Director, formally announced that they will be hosting a show in Japan on February 26, 2012. This will be 14 years since the SEG-owned UFC last went to the country, but it will be Zuffa's first voyage to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Here are a few important details from the presser (courtesy of Tony Loiseleur and Dan Herbertson):

• The Feb 2012 event will be at the Saitama Super Arena and it will be configured to fit 20,000 fans.
• No news yet on whether it will be a PPV, or a 'Fight Night', but the event will start at 10 a.m. in Japan to fit with the American broadcast of the show. Main card would be at noon to 3 p.m.
• No fights have been officially announced. It will be finalized at around November, but Zuffa fighters, Norifumi Yamamoto, Riki Fukuda, Takanori Gomi, Yushin Okami, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Michihiro Omigawa, Hatsu Hioki, and Takeya Mizugaki are all possibilities for the show.
• It would be like a Japanese version of UFC: Rio, where there will be local talent picked up, and local media events.
• The UFC is planning to come to Japan often: "Let me also say that while UFC Japan in 2012 will be the first event for Zuffa in Asia, it certainly won't be the last. We hope to make UFC Japan an annual fixture on our calendar and we also have plans to follow-up with a series of high quality events across Asia," -- They have been promising to bring shows to other Asian countries, and with TUF Philippines being finalized, could that be the other Asian destination? I can only hope.