LAS VEGAS - Hatsu Hioki was fighting for more than just himself tonight at UFC 137. He was dealing with the pressure of having Japanese MMA's reputation to protect. It wasn't the greatest performance tonight, but Hioki did enough to take a split decision win, 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28, over UFC veteran George Roop.
Hioki, ranked by some as high as No. 2 in the world at 145 pounds, was trying to snap a real dry spell from the top fighters from Japan, who have struggled in the U.S. recently.
Following the narrow victory, Hioki told UFC analyst Joe Rogan and the crowd, "Japanese MMA is not dead. It's time to change things."
[Related: UFC 137: Penn, 'Cro Cop' set to retire after losses]
The 28-year-old entered this one as a minus-450 favorite. He looked composed, but not explosive. His best round came in the second when he scored a takedown with 3:27 left.
Hioki quickly converted it to the mount. But once in the mount, he looked he had trouble picking an attack. That, and Roop did a nice job from the bottom of staying active.
Roop clearly took the third round. He was the fresher fighter and scored a takedown late.
For now, Hioki's victory halts that terrible trend from the elite Japanese fighters in the UFC.
Yahoo! Sports' lead MMA writer Kevin Iole pointed out earlier this week that the best of the best (Yoshihiro Akiyama, Michihiro Omigawa, Kid Yamamoto, Takeyu Mizugaki and Takanori Gomi) from Japan had posted a win percentage around 85 percent outside the UFC only to see it drop to 35.8 percent in the promotion.
It's only one fight, and often times fighters deal with UFC jitters in their first trip to the Octagon. Hioki (25-4) should be a factor in the promotion's featherweight division.
Jorgenson's takedowns the difference in close fight against Curran
Jeff Curran is one the old dogs of mixed martials arts and showed tonight he can still be a factor at the highest levels. He gave Scott Jorgenson, a top seven fighter at bantamweight in the UFC, a run for his money but lost via unanimous decision, 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.
Curran (33-14, 0-2 UFC) last fought in the UFC way back in 2004 and that was at 155 pounds against Matt Serra.
Jorgenson was simply better wrestler tonight. The former Boise State wrestler scored six takedowns in all. He didn't do much damage from the top, but controlled the fight enough to win over the judges.
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