On this day in 2014, the UFC made a rare trip to Japan where a cult hero produced his last win inside the Octagon.
Competing at Saitama Super Arena is a feat that very few UFC fighters have been able to tick off their bucket list.
As Sean O’Malley revealed earlier this year, competing in Japan is a bucket list moment for the vast majority of athletes in mixed martial arts.
While there was a brief period where the UFC would return to Japan on an annual basis for Fight Night events, the country hasn’t played host to the Octagon since 2017.
One of the promotion’s most recent trips saw a huge bounce back victory for one of the biggest stars in the region on the same night that Mark Hunt flattened Roy Nelson.
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Yoshihiro Akiyama produced his final UFC win over Amir Sadollah on this day in 2014
In 2009, the UFC added a big Japanese star to the roster in Yoshihiro Akiyama, who is also known by Choo Sung-hoon or his nickname, ‘Sexyama’.
While life in the promotion started off well for the middleweight following a victory over Alan Belcher, he would go on to lose four consecutive fights, including his second bout against Chris Leben.
After Akiyama was beaten by Jake Shields at UFC 144, there were questions as to whether this would be his final bout inside the Octagon.
Instead, the UFC kept him around for their return to Japan two years later where he competed in a welterweight bout with Amir Sadollah.
Sadollah’s career is very unique in that his entire pro record consists of UFC fights, having come through ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ with no experience before retiring once he was released.
The matchup between Akiyama and Sadollah ended up playing into the home fighter’s hands, as he used his Judo speciality to control the majority of the fight on the ground.
Despite the fact that Akiyama had returned to his roots and pulled off an important win, he departed the UFC following a loss in his next bout.
Sadollah was cut from the roster after this loss, with his inactivity being the main factor in his exit.
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Yoshihiro Akiyama went on to star in a Netflix series years after his UFC career came to an end
Yoshihiro Akiyama’s UFC career may not have gone to plan but that didn’t hugely hurt his star status in Japan.
After this run came to an end, he debuted in ONE Championship following a near four-year break in his MMA career.
Alongside his three-fight run in ONE, Akiyama starred in the Netflix series Physical: 100, which has recently added several notable fighters to the latest season.
This particular season put 100 of South Korea’s greatest athletes in a series of challenges that would eliminate contestants until only one was left standing.
Akiyama was voted by the contestants to be one of the ten team leaders on the series before making it into the final 20 before being eliminated.
Former UFC fighter Dong Hyun Kim has also featured on the series in the past.