UFC 144 Edgar Vs. Henderson Conference Call Live Updates

Taking the intro from my SBN cohort over at Mania, Brian Hemminger:

Ultimate Fighting Championship will today (Feb. 14, 2012) hold a media conference call to promote next Saturday's (Feb. 25, 2012) UFC 144: "Edgar vs. Henderson" pay-per-view (PPV) event.

The conference call will begin at 1 p.m. ET. Scheduled to attend will be the main and co-main event fighters of the evening: Frankie Edgar, Ben Henderson, Quinton Jackson and Ryan Bader.

Edgar is the current UFC lightweight champion, having twice defeated B.J. Penn in 2010 to win and defend the belt. He showcased his pure heart in coming back twice in consecutive fights against Gray Maynard last year earning a draw and closing out the trilogy with a fourth round knockout to make a statement.

His challenger, Henderson, is the former WEC lightweight champion. He's been on a torrid run in the UFC thus far, defeating the likes of Mark Bocek and then knocking off top contenders Jim Miller and Clay Guida to earn his shot at UFC gold.

"Rampage" Jackson is the former UFC light heavyweight champion. He's been up and down since losing the title to Forrest Griffin and is most recently coming off a defeat via the hands of Jon Jones in a failed attempt to reclaim the 205 pound belt.

Bader was once considered one of the best light heavyweight prospects in the UFC. After a very promising undefeated start to his career, he was derailed by Jon Jones and then completely stunned by Tito Ortiz. "Darth" Bader got back on track with a quick first round knockout in his last fight and will be right back in the thick of things if he can knock off the aging former champ.

We'll have complete updates of the UFC 141 conference call after the jump once it starts:

1:01 Nothing yet, still admitting more people. At least the hold music is nicer than your standard elevator jazz muzak.

1:06 AND WE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE LIVE. Standard background on the fight and the fighters. Reminder of UFC3 vidya game including PRIDE mode.

1:08 Bleacher Report asking Edgar about the overseas fight. Frank expounding about Japan being the birthplace of martial arts and comparing it to his experience in Abu Dhabi.

1:10 Confirmation about the main card, it won't actually have seven fights, but the standard six.

1:11 Canadian Press asks a question to 'Page. Rampage talking about the popularity of his fighting style in Japan and how it made him big. Rampage with something I couldn't make out responding to a question about the crowd in Japan.

1:13 'Page talking about wanting to be back in Japan before he calls it a career. Calls it a "no-brainer". He thinks it'll be a good chance that the UFC helps revitalize the struggling JMMA scene. Rampage snarking on the matchmaking in the UFC vs PRIDE "If I commented on how I feel about the UFC matchmaking, I don't think Joe Silva would speak to me."

1:14 Correction, back to seven fights on the main card!

1:15 'Page talking about having to push the UFC to get him on this card despite his recent loss to Jon. He missed fighting in Japan and he has kids there, so he was very much looking forward to getting back there.

1:17 Bader giving a fairly standard response about fighting in "Jackson's Backyard" - they're both traveling there, both just gonna be in the octagon, etc. Ben Henderson on working his way back up after the end of the WEC: Lord works in mysterious ways, maybe he wasn't ready, but he's ready now, and he's going to run with it and give it his best shot.

1:18 Rampage thinks the crowd'll be happy to get some UFC, he's heard they're looking forward to the fights.

1:20 Bendo on the fight in Japan meaning a lot. Mentioning Edgar's line on the birthplace of MMA, and it being a bigger global thing. Bendo would like to avenge the loss to Pettis at some point and gives props to Anthony - he thinks that Pettis will "get a shot at his belt soon, so let's do it."

1:22 A question for 'Page about the old Sakuraba fight, "I didn't know nuthin about nuthin. I was just trying to make some money." Quality sound bite from Rampage, "When I'm over there and I don't have my chains, they don't know who I am, I'm camouflaged. I could be anybody, black people all look alike to them." Rampage talking about the good atmosphere and a home base at his new gym that he recently opened.

1:24 Edgar's real happy about being an ambassador of the sport, fighting for the first time under the Zuffa banner in Japan and in Abu Dhabi. Henderson excited about being in the main event because he was kind of on the back-burner last time. He wasn't thrilled about not getting televised last time, but he's pretty gratified about it now.

1:25 Rampage on not really being vocal this time around in the upcoming fight, "I've got nothing against Ryan, he's a cool guy. It's nothing personal, just tryin' to put on a good show, gonna try and knock his head off, but nothing personal."

1:27 Bendo talking about the difference in the ground games of Clay Guida and Frankie Edgar, "Frank is more polished, but the fight against Clay helped me a lot."

1:28 Frank not concerned too much with where the fight goes. He wants to win the first round this time.

1:29 Frank says he's motivated and not getting comfortable against Henderson. Bendo very much looking forward to fighting what the reporter calls a "top 5 pound-for-pound fighter".

1:31 Frank responds to a question about how Abu Dhabi's helped him adjust to the time zones and how he won't be blind-sided by it. Same style of question for Ben and he says he's gotten a lot of advice from people on how to handle it. Making sure he has the food that he wants and his body needs to maintain his diet.

1:32 Frank had no idea he was a betting favorite until Mike Chiappetta mentioned it, but it's nice to be getting respect the more he wins. Noting that he's probably not going to out-condition Henderson, just being ready to fight five hard rounds.

1:33 Ben talking about the championship being the goal - wanting to be the best fighter on the planet, period. Even winning this fight wouldn't make him that, he'd have to get up to Anderson Silva levels before people would consider that.

1:35 Ben talking about losing close rounds, crediting Frankie to winning round by round so that he wins a bunch and all of a sudden you're down. He's a little bigger in terms of size, he's put on some weight to have the size advantage. Says it hasn't affected his cardio at all, but he doesn't mention what he weighs.

1:38 Matt Roth asking about Henderson's trip to South Korea to see his family - his mom's second trip to SK in 30 years was cool, meeting a bunch of distant cousins... and how some will be in attendance at the event.

1:39 Frank doesn't want to be down big at the start against Bendo. Feels refreshed about putting BJ Penn and Gray Maynard in his rear view and training for someone else.

1:40 How many different people from BR are there? A follow-up to the last question, Frank still happy about the new opponent.

1:41 Bader talking about his two losses and having something good come out of them. Not freaking out and making huge changes, but looking at what's happening and correcting. Changing coaches and boxing coaches and how he feels like a different fighter and is confident going into this fight.

Is any fighter not confident? I really want to hear someone say "man I'm nervous as hell, I have no idea what's gonna happen."

1:43 A question from a Spanish reporter asking Frankie why he thinks the Spanish community likes the UFC. For the record, Frank doesn't speak Spanish, so the lady had to ask it in slightly halting English. Frank thinks that they like it in part due to Mexican fighters being aggressive and fighting hard. Frank talking a bit about his wrestling background and crediting Bendo with being a good, well-rounded fighter.

And we're done!