Hatsu Hioki grasps unanimous win over Bart Palaszewski at UFC 144 – UFC news
The featherweight division of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) put forth the Japanese audience an epic brawl between Japanese surging brawler Hatsu Hioki and Polish fighter Bart Palaszewski, on UFC 144 at Saitama Super Arena.
The duo collided in the three-round bout on February 25, 2012 and gave each other the toughest time of their lives. Both men won the applause of the whole arena and Hatsu made his fellow countrymen proud by becoming the only Japanese to win in the whole
pay-per-view.
A total of three Japanese participated in three different brawls; Hioki was the only one who nailed his opponent by collecting a unanimous win. Hatsu, ranked as the number three featherweight in UFC, has been in a total 31 bouts. He has won 25 bouts, six
of them by knockout, a whopping 10 by submission and the same by either split or unanimous decision.
Hatsui, who has fought mostly in Japanese mixed martial art promotions, is a legend in his home country and is the former Shooto and Sengoku lightweight champion. His opponent for the night was the Polish brawler Bart who hails from Warsaw and has a huge
experience of 50 bouts.
Bart, well known as ‘Bartimus’, boasts 36 wins, 17 of them by knockout, 11 by submission, and eight by decision. Before the brawl Hatsu was seriously outclassed by Bart’s stats and experience but as the brawl progressed, Hioki proved that why he is designated
as the top ranked featherweight in UFC.
The first and third rounds were unanimously captured by Hioki. At one moment during the bout Hatsu grabbed Bart in an arm lock and strived hard to make the Polish brawler tap but somehow the 28-year-old Bartimus escaped the lock. Breaking the lock was not
enough as Hatsu continued his attack by pummelling Bart with a series of jabs.
Hioki collected the most points and at the end of the third round the judges gave 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 in favour of Hatsu. After the brawl the proud Hioki amidst the praising chants of his home crowd said, “There's a need to improve more, so I'll try to
improve more. I think I truly showed what I practiced for a long time.”
The special four-hour edition was headlined by the lightweight championship brawl between Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson. Hastu has collected his second UFC win and now possesses a record of 26 wins, four losses and two draws. Bart, on the other hand, has
15 losses and 36 wins in his resume.
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