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A battle between welterweights Thiago Alves and Yoshihiro Akiyama appears on course for UFC 149, according to a report by MMA Fighting.

UFC 149 takes place July 21 from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Jose Aldo, the UFC featherweight champion, will defend his title, but an opponent is not yet known for “Scarface.”

Both Alves and Akiyama are coming off losses, as “The Pitbull” was stopped by Martin Kampmann and Akiyama fell to Jake Shields.

After working his way to a title fight with Georges St-Pierre, Alves hit a block in the road. He has won just two of his last five bouts, including the defeat to Kampmann in which he was winning the fight before shooting in for a takedown. Kampmann caught him in a choke and scored the submission.

Akiyama has went just 1-4 in his last five, including he loss to Shields in his native country of Japan earlier this year.

Both fighters need a win, so expect each man to go all-out in this one. While that should excite the fans, it will likely spell the end for one of these two men inside the Octagon.

Photo credit: Sherdog

Rundown of UFC 144 post-fight news and notes…

— Anthony Pettis picked up a $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus check for starching Joe Lauzon with a nasty head kick. Vaughn Lee earned Submission of the Night honors for finishing Kid Yamamoto with an armbar. And Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson were awarded Fight of the Night honors for their thrilling five-round main event.

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UFC 144 takes place later tonight at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event airs live on pay-per-view at 10pm ET/7pm PT. The pay-per-view broadcast will be preceded by prelim specials on Facebook at 7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT and FX at 8pm ET/5pm PT.

In the main event, Frankie Edgar puts his UFC lightweight title on the line against Ben Henderson.

In the co-main event, Rampage Jackson returns to Japan to take on Ryan Bader.

Mark Hunt meets Cheick Kongo in a heavyweight bout.

Jake Shields looks to end a two-fight losing streak against Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Yushin Okami faces Tim Boetsch in a middleweight match-up.

Hatsu Hioki takes on Bart Palaszewski in a featherweight bout.

Joe Lauzon and Anthony Pettis meet in a lightweight match-up.

Results, recap and bonuses after the jump.

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Video highlights of the UFC 144 pre-fight press conference via Heavy.com.

Frankie Edgar won the UFC lightweight championship by defeating the incumbent BJ Penn in April of 2010. Since then, Edgar has defended his belt three times. Now, in an ideal world, that would’ve meant three new opponents, each providing disparate pugilistic permutations that would entertain solely on the basis of us getting to see “The Answer” facing someone different. But the real world has proven less than ideal. In his first bout after snatching Penn’s belt, Edgar had to fight… Penn. After that, he took on top contender Gray Maynard. Again. And again. Once Edgar became the UFC champ and had to fight to retain his crown, it was against people he’d already fought before. That fact alone makes UFC 144’s main event – a pairing that pits Edgar against former WEC champ Benson Henderson – pretty damn special if you ask me. For the first time in years, we are finally getting see Edgar scrap with someone without the last name of Penn or Maynard! Never mind that UFC 144 is the promotion’s first return to Japan since UFC 29. Edgar gets to defend his belt against someone new! Hoo-frickin’-ray! Anyway, here’s a preview of the main card.

-Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson – Edgar has been in the cage with Maynard for so many rounds they would be considered married under common law in some cultures. I guess that makes what’s about to happen between the champ and challenger – and I’m talking about the impending knock down-drag out violence they’re sure to provide – the most torrid of affairs. What’s in store? We all know these gentlemen can go hard for five whole rounds, that they don’t go down easily and that they can duke it out on the feet or settle matters on the ground. What we don’t know, however, is if “Bendo” can deal with Edgar’s unwavering pace and ability to turn a transition into “Pow! I just TKO’d your ass!” I envision Henderson putting up a good fight, but eventually Edgar wears the poor guy down into a nub, and that’s all she wrote.

-Quinton Jackson vs. Ryan Bader – “Rampage” is still one of the best in the world at light-heavyweight, regardless of how the superhuman Jon Jones handled him. Bader’s got great wrestling and can hit hard, but the TUF winner has flaws (as evidenced by how the very human Tito Ortiz handled him). Therefore, unless Jackson’s vast mileage has caught up with him between now and the last time we saw him (and again, don’t hold his performance against Jones against him; mortals fall to Jones, that’s just how it is), he should have little problem stuffing every one of Bader’s attempts to manhandle him, and out-boxing the heavy-handed TUFer. Rampage via decision.

-Cheick Kongo vs. Mark Hunt – Kongo can be exciting when he’s forced to be. Or, he can hold dudes against the fence and knee them in the nuts relentlessly, which is not that exciting. Hunt was a striking stud back in the day, and made more than a few PRIDE and K-1 events interesting. Unfortunately, time has seen his ability and raw talent decline something fierce, so what we have competing in the Octagon now is someone who can pick off the scrubs, but who’ll have trouble with the tougher guys. And Kongo is one of the tougher guys in the UFC’s heavyweight division. I want to believe that Hunt will come out winging bolos and force Kongo to fight. I don’t see that happening, though. Kongo is going to mush Hunt against the fence, hold him there, and knee him where the sun doesn’t shine. Kongo via painful decision.

-Jake Shields vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama – Shields was the big man on campus when the school was Strikeforce, but since graduating to the University of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, his grades have plummeted. But that’s okay, because UFC 144 Akiyama has made a name for himself by fighting hard and losing even harder (other than a two-minute drubbing at the hands of Vitor Belfort, Akiyama left it all in the cage against Alan Belcher, Michael Bisping and Chris Leben, and did not look impressive at any time). Anyway, Shields’ wrestling and jiu-jitsu should prove to be the deciding factor here, with Japanese judoka getting put on his back, and regaining his feet only after the referee pulls Shields off of him.

-Tim Boetsch vs. Yushin Okami – Boetsch, who made tossing guys on the head cool again, has been kicking ass since dropping to middleweight. Meanwhile, in his last UFC outing, Okami looked absolutely horrific against champ Anderson Silva. Like, “Why did this guy even take up fighting?” horrific. Of course, in Okami, Boetsch is facing someone far tougher and accomplished than anyone else he’s ever faced, but still, watching someone get tossed on their head is fun. If Okami comes in as gun shy and craptastic as he did against Silva, he’s going to be taking a short flight to Sideofthecage Land. I’m picking the Japanese fighter to grind out the decision, but damn am I hoping we get to see Boetsch throw someone.

-Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski – Palaszewki was on the fast train to Suckville after a mottled stint in the WEC, but in his Octagon debut he wrecked Tyson Griffin as if Griffin was a chump. So here we are, with Palaszewski taking on Shooto and Sengoku champ Hioki in what should be a squash match for the Japanese fighter. Why? Because with the way Griffin’s been stinking up the joint as of late, defeating him doesn’t truly elevate Palaszewski to greatness, and Hioki has more skill in his stool than the American has in his whole body. Hioki via decision.

-Joe Lauzon vs. Anthony Pettis – Whenever you think Lauzon is going to lose, he spoils it by smashing his way to victory. Pettis, who won the WEC belt right when it was about to no longer mean anything, is fantastic on the feet and capable of some wondrous moves, and in theory should be able to TKO his way to victory, but… it’s Joe Lauzon we’re talking about here. Lauzon can explode and hit hard, and he can molest opponents on the ground. Is he able to out-strike Pettis in a protracted standup war? No, but he can surprise Pettis with a dose of knuckles to the grill and follow it up smoothly with some submission love. And that makes him dangerous as hell. I’m predicting Pettis to get the TKO, but damn could Lauzon pull another rabbit out of his hat. That’d be cool, too.

Full video of the UFC 144 pre-fight press conference from Japan. Dana White, Frankie Edgar, Ben Henderson, Rampage Jackson, Ryan Bader, Jake Shields and Yoshihiro Akiyama were all in attendance.

UFC 144 is official.

UFC 144 “Edgar vs. Henderson” is scheduled to take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on Sunday, Feb. 26, and will air live on pay-per-view on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 10pm ET/7pm PT in North America. The card will be headlined by a lightweight title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Ben Henderson.

“Japan is the spiritual home of martial arts – the world has learned from the Japanese many aspects of how to compete in hand-to-hand combat with respect and honor,” said Fertitta.  “But Japan also has a proud history of modern mixed martial arts and I am excited to bring the Ultimate Fighting Championship back here, and to begin the build-up today to one of the most highly anticipated events of the year — not just for Japanese UFC fans, but for sports fans all over the world.”

“To mark this historic occasion of UFC’s return to Japan and Zuffa’s first event in Asia, we are bringing a truly stacked card, topped with a World Championship title bout,” noted UFC Asia Managing Director Mark Fischer.  “Frankie Edgar is one of the top pound-for-pound and toughest guys in the sport, and Benson Henderson is a former WEC champion who earned his title shot with three consecutive wins including most recently over Clay Guida in one of the best fights of 2011”

The rest of the fight card was also made official. The full card includes Rampage Jackson vs Ryan Bader, Mark Hunt vs Cheick Kongo, Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Shields, Anthony Pettis vs Joe Lauzon, Yushin Okami vs Tim Boetsch, Takanori Gomi vs George Sotiropoulos, Hatsu Hioki vs Bart Palaszewski, Kid Yamamoto vs Vaughan Lee, Riki Fukuda vs Steve Cantwell, Takeya Mizugaki vs Chris Cariaso and Leonard Garcia vs Tiequan Zhang.

Ticket info below.

• Japan Presale: Monday, November 28
• Public On-Sale Date: Saturday, December 10

Tickets will be priced at 100,000, 34000, 19000 9800, and 5800 Japanese Yen (JPY). They can be purchased at Kyodo Promotion, E-Plus and Lawson Tickets.

The latest UFC 144 fight card and event info can be found in our fight cards section.

It’s official. Yoshihiro Akiyama will return to Japan for his welterweight debut, but unlike many of his past fights in Japan, this one won’t be a gimme.

The UFC announced today that he’ll take on Jake Shields when they cross the Pacific for UFC 144 on Feb. 26.

“Verbal agreements are in for a welterweight matchup in Tokyo, Japan between former Strikeforce champion Jake Shields and Asian superstar ‘Sexyama’ Yoshihiro Akiyama February 26th,” said UFC President Dana White.

It’s no surprise the UFC is bringing Akiyama to Japan. He’s a big draw there and having him for the Asian market is probably the only reason he still has a job in the UFC following three straight losses.

Breaking that losing streak won’t be easy though. Shields may be on a slide of his own, but he didn’t win 15 straight fights before he ran into Georges St. Pierre because he’s a mediocre fighter. He knows how to win fights and will certainly be looking to get back in the win column after a difficult 2011.

Many have called for Yoshihiro Akiyama to drop down to welterweight ever since he debuted in the UFC with a narrow victory over Alan Belcher. After losing his last three, Akiyama finally decided to go for it.

To make sure he could do it though, Akiyama did a test cut and the picture above is the result. According to MMA Fighting’s Japanese MMA reporter, Daniel Herbertson, Akiyama dropped from 203-205 lbs. to 170 lbs. in only four weeks, but said the last 12 lbs. were “quite hard.”

Regardless, Akiyama made it and we’ll be seeing him at welterweight next. The questions now are when and against who?

I learned two things this weekend. 1) Moving sucks, and 2) moving with a hangover really really sucks. Like pretty much the worst thing ever. So yeah, now that we’ve established that I’m a total idiot, let’s run down the Labor Day weekend news, shall we?

— A new promotion in the Asian market called ONE FC kicked off their first show over the weekend. The promotion has been getting a lot of buzz in the past month, mainly because they’re claiming they’re going to be the “the king of MMA in Asia,” but as with most debut events, things didn’t exactly run like a well-oiled machine. In other words, they have a lot of work to do if they’re going to emerge as the top dog in the East. MMA Fighting’s Daniel Herbertson has all the details.

— Following three straight losses to Chris Leben, Michael Bisping and Vitor Belfort, Yoshihiro Akiyama has finally decided to drop to welterweight. He hopes to return to action at the UFC’s Japan event next February.

— Speaking of the UFC’s Japan event, Fight Opinion’s Zach Arnold has a story up explaining why their decision to run there is more personal than professionally motivated.

— Jon Jones made some interesting comments about the belt and (not) being the champion.

“As a warrior I think it’s dangerous to become obsessed with accolades and belts and rank and stature. I think it’s more about the day-to-day lifestyle of being a warrior. I don’t think there’s really, when it comes to fighting, there’s really no destination; it’s really about the journey. If I had my choice, I probably wouldn’t even touch the belt before the fight and I probably won’t touch the belt before the fight. It’s something that’s in my past already. I beat Shogun and that has absolutely nothing to do with beating Rampage Jackson. I kind of feel as if there is no champion in this fight. It’s two guys looking to win a belt that no one has ever worn before and I’m destined to bring that belt home.”

So dramatic…

— Brett Rogers will return to action against Eddie Sanchez in the Titan FC 20 main event. Rogers, along with his wife and kids, did an interview with Inside MMA’s Ron Kruck in what turned out to be a calculated attempt to repair his image in the MMA community. The piece showed Rogers playing with his kids in the park and Rogers, with his wife by his side, saying that every marriage has it’s ups and downs and they’re no different. Rogers maintains his innocence, but couldn’t talk about the specifics of his domestic violence case while it’s still pending.

— Dana White is expecting their FOX debut to blow Kimbo Slice’s CBS ratings (6.12 million viewers) out of the water. That remains to be seen, but if it doesn’t, don’t blame FOX. They already started promoting the event during their baseball broadcasts this past weekend.

— Nate Marquardt is expected to return to action in December at BAMMA 8.

— Shogun’s manager, Eduardo Alonso, is hoping to land Shogun a fight with Tito Ortiz on New Year’s Eve.

“I’ve been hearing some rumors, but until now there’s nothing concrete about UFC. If it depends only on my plannings, he’d fight on December 31st, it’d be great. I’d really like him to fight Tito Ortiz since he’s an icon of the sport and will soon retire”, explains the manager.

“He didn’t have the chance to fight (Randy) Couture, something Lyoto had the luck and credits to do, but I’d like to see this fight. It came from Tito himself, who challenged him, but we’re realistic. I know it’s not much likely, so it’s only left for us to wait. Everybody knows Shogun doesn’t pick his opponents, so we’re opened to discussion. To me, the date (December 31st) is more important than the opponent”.

— Both Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos are ecstatic about the opportunity to fight on FOX.

Velasquez: I said “Great.” It’s definitely a big thing with them having that partnership, and then for us to be on that first fight on Fox is a big thing. So I said yeah. I was all for it… They told me about it last night and wanted to know if I was OK with it. It’s a great opportunity.

JDS: The first words that came to my head were euphoria and happiness. I was ecstatic. I feel privileged and honored to be part of such an important piece of UFC history. I was very, very pleased with the invitation.

— King Mo likened Strikeforce to a dying cancer patient on The MMA Hour.

“It feels a little weird, because it’s not the same. It’s like a cancer patient, like a dying cancer patient. That’s how I feel like the organization is. We’re just waiting for it to die, to pass. As long as I can get my fights in and they’re still around, I want to get them in.”

Sad, but true.

— A Swedish website is claiming that Alistair Overeem is on his way to Las Vegas to sign a UFC contract, however Overeem says that report is “WRONG!” When will it be right?

— Anderson Silva says he took painkillers for a shoulder injury before his fight with Yushin Okami.

“A month before the fight, I hurt my shoulder training with Junior dos Santos and stepped in feeling pain in Rio. I had to take painkillers and advised the Athletic Commission about the medicine I took. I talked to my doctors a lot. I did MRI right after and began to feel pain on the shoulder and the medics released me. They told me that was not too bad. It is a small lesion, in manguito (rotador) muscle I think, but it bothers me. I will take some time resting to do the treatment.”

— Josh Barnett says Antonio Silva is only a decent fighter because of his massive size.

Happy Labor Day everyone!