The UFC 144 card scheduled for Feb. 26 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, continues to come together.
A lightweight match-up between Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon (21-6) and former WEC lightweight champ Anthony “Showtime” Pettis (12-2) has been added to the line-up.
According to a UFC.com report late Tuesday verbal agreements are in place for both fighters.
Lauzon reminded the MMA world just how explosive and talented he really is when he stunned top lightweight contender Melvin Guillard with a punch then sunk on a fight ending rear-naked choke in just 47 seconds at UFC 136 in October.
It was Lauzon’s second straight first round submission win and second straight “submission of the night” for 2011. In fact, Lauzon has won “submission of the night” honors for his last four victories in a row! Out of his 11 UFC fights, he has won a total of eight fight night bonuses for either “submission of the night” or “fight of the night”.
After taking the WEC 155-pound crown from Ben Henderson and throwing down the “kick heard ’round the world” last December in the WEC’s final show, Pettis has gone 1-1 inside the UFC Octagon.
In a supremely tough UFC debut Pettis dropped a unanimous decision to the untiring Clay Guida in June. Pettis bounced back successfully four months later winning a split decision against Jeremy Stephens at UFC 136.
Ironically, Henderson will also be fighting at UFC 144, taking on UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar for the title in the main event. See our Upcoming Events page for the full line-up as it stands currently.