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UFC gambling on Akiyama

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10:22 AM ET 03.01 | The Ultimate Fighting Championship's signing of Yoshihiro Akiyama represents a significant business first -- the first time a true native top-level drawing card from Japan has signed with a foreign mixed martial arts organization. There have been plenty of Japanese fighters in UFC over the years, including Caol Uno, a legitimate lightweight contender in the early days of the division (who is set to return to UFC in June); Yushin Okami, a top middleweight contender; and even Kazuhiko Nakamura came in after the PRIDE purchase in 2007. But Uno, while somewhat of a name fighter in Japan today, was not any kind of crossover star. Okami was an unknown fighter except to hardcore fans. Nakamura was known as a PRIDE regular. But he was a mid-carder, and it was joked that when PRIDE came to the U.S. for the first time before it folded, the American fans thought Nakamura was a bigger deal than anyone in Japan did. He only lasted a few fights with UFC before being sent packing.

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