City Saitama, Japan Venue Saitama Super Arena | Date 20 September 2014 | |
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Attendance 7004123950000000000♠12,395 UFC Fight Night Hunt vs. Nelson UFC 178 Johnson vs. Cariaso Location Saitama Super Arena, Chūō-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan Promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship | ||
UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Nelson (also known as UFC Fight Night 52) was a mixed martial arts event held on September 20, 2014 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Contents
Background
The event was the third that the organization hosted in Saitama, following UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson in February 2012 and UFC on Fuel TV: Silva vs. Stann in March 2013.
The event was headlined by a heavyweight bout between Roy Nelson and Mark Hunt.
Tatsuya Kawajiri was briefly linked to a matchup at the event with Darren Elkins, but the bout never materialized as Kawajiri was sidelined indefinitely with a detached retina.
Chris Cariaso was originally scheduled to face Kyoji Horiguchi at the event. However, Cariaso was pulled from the bout with Horoguchi in favor of a matchup with current flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson at UFC 178. Horiguchi faced Jon Delos Reyes.
Kyle Noke was expected to face Yoshihiro Akiyama at the event, but eventually was forced out of the bout with a knee injury. Akiyama instead faced Amir Sadollah.
Urijah Faber was briefly linked to a bout with Masanori Kanehara at the event. However, before the bout was officially announced, Faber was removed due to injury and Kanehara faced Alex Caceres.
Bonus awards
The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses:
^ Bonus winner Michinori Tanaka had his award rescinded after testing positive for banned substances during his post fight drug screening.