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 a great performance, 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 was 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 like he had trouble picking an attack. That, and Roop did a nice job of staying active from the bottom.
"I wasn't surprised that he took me down, but I was surprised by how long he was able to keep me down. I spent so much time trying to not get caught in his submissions, that I couldn't focus on the escapes," Roop said. "I'll have to go back and check the tapes to�see if I agree with�the scores�or not, but I know the entire fight was extremely close."
Roop (12-8-1, 2-3 UFC) clearly took the third round. He was the fresher fighter and scored a late takedown.
For now, Hioki's victory halts that terrible trend from the elite Japanese fighters in the UFC.
Earlier this week, Yahoo! Sports' lead MMA writer Kevin Iole pointed out 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 martial 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.
"I felt very comfortable in guard throughout the whole fight, but I just ran out of time to implement my game plan," Curran said. "I really felt like he was just trying to survive and just hanging on to me. I tried a few takedowns to score some points late in the fight, but it just didn't happen that way."
Jorgenson (13-4, 2-0 UFC) was simply the 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.
"I'm happy to be back on a winning streak. I wasn't as explosive or exciting as usual but I fought the fight I wanted to. I trained hard and got better," Jorgenson said. "This is the first time I had a�Jiu-Jitsu coach. I worked on technique and it showed out there."
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