Okami vs. Boetsch, Pettis vs. Lauzon Added to UFC 144 - MMA Combat

Okami vs. Boetsch, Pettis vs. Lauzon Added to UFC 144 - MMA Combat

UFC officials Tuesday, announced a pair of high-profile fights that have been added to the UFC 144 - Edgar vs. Henderson line-up. In the first, power-house middleweight Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch (14-4-0) will meet one-time title challenger Yushin "Thunder" Okami (26-6-0) on the Japanese Judoka's home turf, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan; while lightweights Anthony "Showtime" Pettis (14-2-0) and Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon (21-6-0) will do battle in a pivotal contest at 155lbs, February 26, 2012.

Dropping down to middleweight in 2011, Boetsch has enjoyed a size and strength advantage that had been missing at light heavyweight; in May, at UFC 130 - Rampage vs. Hamill, "The Barbarian" beat-up TUF Season Three winner Kendall Grove en route to a unanimous decision, announcing his arrival at 185lsb. Most recently, the AMC Pankration representative toppled the previously undefeated Nick Ring over fifteen minutes at UFC 135 - Jones vs. Rampage.

"Thunder" has been the most successful Japanese import in UFC history, posting a 10-3-0 record under the banner since his introduction in 2006, with three win-streaks of three fights or better along the way. His elusive title shot finally came this past August at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but division king Anderson "The Spider" Silva proved once again why he is widely considered the world's best pound for pound fighter when he stopped Okami for only the second time in his career on second round strikes.

Former WEC lightweight champion, "Showtime" Pettis, had a disappointing start to his UFC tenure when the RoufuSport product was outpointed by Clay Guida at The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale in June of this year. Pettis however, would bounce back strong with a narrow split decision win over tough veteran Jeremy Stephens at UFC 136 - Edgar vs. Maynard III, in October. The highly-touted twenty-four year old has never been finished in sixteen professional appearances, and has stopped eleven opponents inside the distance.

Joe Lauzon stunned the red-hot Melvin Guillard at UFC 136 when the Massachusetts native notched the seventeenth submission victory of his career with a first round Rear-Naked Choke after staggering "The Young Assassin" with a straight left on their feet. 8-3-0 inside the octagon, Lauzon has never lost back-to-back fights and has been to decision only once in twenty-seven professional appearances.

The updated UFC 144 card is below:

UFC Lightweight Championship
Frankie Edgar (No. 1 LW, No. 4 PFP) vs. Ben Henderson (No. 6 LW)

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields (No. 5 WW, No. 10 PFP)
Tim Boetsch vs. Yushin Okami (No. 3 MW)
Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon


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