UFC 144: Takanori Gomi vs George Sotiropoulos announced for Feb. 26 in Japan

"The Fireball Kid" is headed back home.

That's because Takanori Gomi has been booked to get busy against jiu-jitsu ace George Sotiropoulos at UFC 144 on Feb. 26, 2012, from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The promotion brought word of the pending match-up a short time ago.

Both fighters are looking to rebound from recent losses, particularly Gomi, who has been submitted in both of his last two outings against Clay Guida and Nate Diaz, respectively.

In fact, the Japanese import is just 1-3 inside the Octagon, which means it's time to live up to the hype or he may not be making the trip back to the U.S. early next year.

Sotiropoulos has also struggled greatly as of late, as he failed to win a single fight in his 2011 campaign after failing to lose a fight between 2007-2010.

In fact, he was knocking on the door to a title shot before running into Dennis Siver's fists back at UFC 127 in February. A follow up knockout loss to Rafael dos Anjos in under one minute at UFC 132 has his Octagon career in doubt.

A win over Gomi would certainly stave off the hounds ... for now.

UFC 144 will be headlined by a 155-pound title fight featuring Ben Henderson, fresh off his unanimous decision win over Clay Guida, taking on reigning lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. In addition, Jake Shields returns to action against Yoshihiro Akiyama, while Anthony Pettis and Joe Lauzon collide in what promises to be an exciting lightweight attraction.

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