Saturday morning in Japan, the UFC will return with a card which has some of the typical makings of a Japanese MMA event. However, with the recent withdrawal of Shogun Rua, it lacks some of the star-power the Far East is used to. The event still features a fantastic bout in the strawweight division, a Japanese legend, and the UFC debut of a former GLORY champ and K-1 star.
Despite those positives, the main event carries virtually zero appeal. Even the originally scheduled rematch between Shogun and Ovince St. Preux wasn’t all that spectacular. Now, with Shogun suffering yet another knee injury, former middleweight title challenger Yushin Okami has been brought back to the UFC to face St. Preux on short notice. While he brings a four-fight winning streak into the bout, Okami hasn’t fought at middleweight in nearly three years instead choosing to drop to 170. You have to go back more than a decade for the last time Okami competed at 205. St. Preux hasn’t exactly been lighting the light heavyweight division on fire of late, as he just snapped a three-fight losing streak in his last outing.
The co-main event is really the gem of this card, as a pair of former strawweight title challengers square off in one of the better matchups the division can produce. Claudia Gadelha may be the best 115lber in the world over three rounds, and she has a chance to show it against Jessica Andrade. Gadelha is coming off a dominant performance over Karolina Kowalkiewicz, and may give the UFC no choice but to match her with Joanna Jedrzejczyk for a third time.
The day after his 39th birthday, former PRIDE champion Takanori Gomi will step into the Octagon looking to stop a four-fight losing streak. UFC brass has been gradually scaling back his level of competition, but he’s still been stopped in the first round in each of his four losses. In Dong Hyun Kim (the other one), perhaps they’ve found an opponent he can get one last win against in front of his home crowd.
Former GLORY light heavyweight champion Gokhan Saki will return to Japan, the site of many of his K-1 victories, for his first MMA fight since 2004. The Turkish kickboxer could be a devastating presence in the light heavyweight division, but the legendarily nicknamed Frank Waisten will prove if his grappling game is where it needs to be in MMA in 2017.
The final two main card fights are both in the featherweight division. Social media hero Teruto Ishihara looks for his first win in over a year against Rolando Dy, while Mizuto Hirota — the man Ishihara drew with in the finals of the Road to UFC — will take on Charles Rosa.
With the change in the main event, there were no odds released for UFC Fight Night 117 until MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the full slate of lines today at Several Bookmakers, including preliminary bouts like Jussier Formiga versus Yuta Sasaki. Keep scrolling for all of the opening numbers.
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UFC Fight Night 117: Shogun vs. Saint Preux 2
SEPTEMBER 22, 2017
Saitama Super Arena | Saitama, Japan
Main Card – FXX, 10PM ET
Yushin Okami +365
Ovince Saint Preux -555
Over 1.5 -140
Under 1.5 +100
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Jessica Andrade +185
Claudia Gadelha -265
Over 2.5 -150
Under 2.5 +110
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Takanori Gomi +190
“Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim -270
Over 1.5 +115
Under 1.5 -155
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Henrique da Silva +120
Gokhan Saki -160
Over 1.5 +130
Under 1.5 -170
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Rolando Dy +135
Teruto Ishihara -175
Over 1.5 -175
Under 1.5 +135
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Mizuto Hirota +160
Charles Rosa -210
Over 2.5 -175
Under 2.5 +135
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Preliminary Card – FXX, 8PM ET
Keita Nakamura +110
Alex Morono -150
Over 2.5 -175
Under 2.5 +135
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Ulka Sasaki +325
Jussier Formiga -475
Over 2.5 -130
Under 2.5 -110
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Chan-Mi Jeon -110
Syuri Kondo -130
Over 2.5 -270
Under 2.5 +190
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Shinsho Anzai +140
Luke Jumeau -180
Over 2.5 -130
Under 2.5 -110
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Preliminary Card – UFC Fight Pass, 7:30PM ET
Daichi Abe +130
Hyun Gyu Lim -170
Over 1.5 -105
Under 1.5 -135
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