UFC 144: Tiequan Zhang vs Issei Tamura booked for Feb. 25 with Leonard Garcia hurt

Longtime Shooto veteran Issei Tamura was honorable enough to step in on short notice and fill in for Leonard Garcia at the UFC 144 pay-per-view event (PPV) on Feb. 25, 2012, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

He'll be taking on fellow featherweight Tiequan Zhang on the "Edgar vs. Henderson" preliminary card after the "Bad Boy" got some bad news and was forced to withdraw due to injury.

As with any fight on short notice, beggars can't be choosers, so Tamura (6-2) gets a shot at the big leagues despite recently falling to 1-2 over his last three fights in Shooto. The good news for the Krazy Bee combatant is that Zhang (15-2) hasn't exactly been lighting the world on fire himself, also going 1-2 after a undefeated start to his career.

Which one of these 145-pounders gets back into the win column in "The Land of the Rising Sun?

UFC 144: "Edgar vs. Henderson" will be headlined by a 155-pound title fight featuring number one division contender Ben Henderson, fresh off his unanimous decision win over Clay Guida, taking on reigning lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.

In addition, a welterweight clash between Jake Shields vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama is on tap, as well as a light heavyweight tilt between Quinton Jackson vs. Ryan Bader.

To get up to speed on all the news and notes for UFC 144 check out our extensive event archive right here.