Wanderlei Silva returns to Japan to fight Brian Stann

Former PRIDE middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva (34-12-1 MMA, 4-7 UFC) returns to Japan to face former WEC light heavyweight champ Brian Stann (12-5 MMA, 6-4 UFC) in a five-round, 205-pound affair.

UFC officials today announced the bout headlines the previously announced UFC on FUEL TV 8 fight card, which takes place March 3 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, just north of Tokyo. Due to the time difference, the card airs live in North America on March 2. The same venue hosted the UFC's most recent trip to the country, UFC 144 this past February.

Silva fights in Japan for the first time since 2006, when he lost via knockout to heavyweight Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in the semifinals of PRIDE's open weight grand prix. As PRIDE's middleweight champion for more than five years, Silva fought 13 times in Saitama and is still considered one of MMA's biggest global superstars.

Meanwhile, Stann is best known outside of the cage for his work as a member of the U.S. Marines. However he was actually born in Japan on a U.S. military base. In addition to his time as a WEC champion, Stann has also fought 10 times in the UFC and now headlines his first event for the promotion.

In addition to the headlining bout, seven additional contests were confirmed including a previously announced heavyweight matchup between Mark Hunt (8-7 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and Stefan Struve (25-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC), who were slated to fight in May on the heavyweights-only UFC 146 main card, but Hunt was forced off the card with a knee injury.

Struve went on to beat replacement Lavar Johnson at UFC 146, and then he headlined UFC on FUEL TV 5 and knocked out Stipe Miocic. The 7-foot Dutchman now has won four straight fights and six of his past seven, all via stoppage and all in the UFC.

Hunt, meanwhile, is in the midst of a career resurgence. Since a six-fight losing skid, which included a series of PRIDE fights and a UFC-debut loss to Sean McCorkle, the New Zealander has posted consecutive UFC wins over Chris Tuchscherer, Ben Rothwell and Cheick Kongo.

Additionally, a batch of new contests announced for the card includes lightweights Takanori Gomi (34-8 MMA, 3-3 UFC) vs. Diego Sanchez (23-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC), welterweights Dong Hyun Kim 16-2-1 MMA, 7-2 UFC) vs. Siyar Bahadurzada (21-4-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), middleweights Riki Fukuda (19-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC) vs. Brad Tavares (9-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC), lightweights Cristiano Marcello (13-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) vs. Kazuki Tokudome (11-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC), bantamweights Takeya Mizugaki (16-7-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) vs. Bryan Caraway (17-5 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and bantamweights Alex Caceres (8-5 MMA, 3-3 UFC) vs. Kyung Ho Kang (11-6 MMA, 0-0 UFC).

Wand v. Stann heads FUEL TV 8

I knew Wand wanted to return to 205lbs but I didn't know Stann was as well. If Wand fights smart and uses his whole skill set he can win but if he just rushes in to brawl I don't think he has the chin for it anymore. Are they ever going to give Wand and BJJ guys or wrestlers instead of power punchers/strikers all the time?

The belief here is that Wanderlei won't enter fights drained anymore. He's currently carrying around at least 20 lbs of muscle since the Franklin loss and is walking around at 220 easily.

I wish Wanderlei returned to Japan to fight at DREAM NYE. Nice to see Wandy and Stann back at 205, good matchup.

oh great..... I have a bad feeling about wand in this match up

Hope WAnd wins via ko and retires a legend in Japan.

Stann isn't staying at LHW. he took the fight because there were no other fights at the moment at middleweight.


Hoping for a brutal wanderlei KO.

Someone is getting KTFO this match up. If not I'll be severely disappointed.

WAR Mark Hunt & Wandy!!!!!

Rampage must now show up on this card