• UFC Japan

Sanchez misses weight on Wanderlei's Japan return

Wanderlei Silva is a legend in Japan © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Features: ESPN UFC Podcast: Night of the damaged extremities
  
• Features: ESPN UFC Podcast: Taking out the trash (talker)
  
• Features: ESPN UFC Podcast: Benson Burner
  
• Features: ESPN UFC Podcast: McGregor steals the show...again!
  
• Features: ESPN UFC Podcast: Notorious by name...
  
• Features: ESPN UFC Podcast: Taxing time for Diaz
  
• Features: ESPN UFC Podcast: This time, it's personal
  
• Features: ESPN UFC Podcast: Fight in a phonebox
  
• News: Lombard: Bisping is a crybaby with no big wins
  
• News: Wanderlei Silva cools retirement talk
  
• Features: ESPN UFC Podcast: Showing some bite
  

NEW: ESPN Fantasy Fighter - enter now and you could win a range of fantastic UFC prizes.

Wanderlei Silva has returned to a familiar place - and weight - for his upcoming bout against Brian Stann, but there were problems for Diego Sanchez at the UFC Japan weigh-ins.

Silva, 36, is set to compete in Japan for the first time since December 2006. The country served host to some of the best performances of Silva's career, including when he won the 205lb Pride title in 2001.

After a five-fight stint of middleweight and catchweight bouts, Silva (34-12-1) returns to the light-heavyweight division this weekend. He came in at 204lbs during Friday's official weigh-in. Stann (12-5) weighed in at 206.

"I'm so proud to fight back here," Silva said, earlier in the week. "That stadium, Saitama, has given me some of the best moments in my career."

All fighters set to compete on Saturday's card successfully made weight except Diego Sanchez. Sanchez (23-5) weighed 158lbs on first attempt. He was given an hour to cut to the 156lb limit, but failed again - forfeiting 20 per cent of his purse. Sanchez's previous four fights have been as a welterweight.

In the co-main event, heavyweight Stefan Struve (25-5) will look to solidify himself as a top contender in the division against Mark Hunt (8-7). The fight was previously scheduled at UFC 146, but scrapped because of injury.

Struve weighed 260lbs; Hunt came in at the 266lb limit.

Middleweights Hector Lombard (32-3-1) and Yushin Okami (28-7) were also among the fighters who made weight.

UFC Japan weigh-in results:
Wanderlei Silva (204) v Brian Stann (206)
Mark Hunt (266) v Stefan Struve (260)
Takanori Gomi (156) v Diego Sanchez (158)
Yushin Okami (185) v Hector Lombard (186)
Mizuto Hirota (146) v Rani Yahya (146)
Dong Hyun Kim (171) v Siyar Bahadurzada (171)
Riki Fukuda (186) v Brad Tavares (185)
Takeya Mizugaki (136) v Bryan Caraway (135)
Cristiano Marcello (156) v Kazuki Tokudome (155)
Alex Caceres (136) v Kyung Ho Kang (135)
Marcelo Guimaraes (171) v Hyun Gyu Lim (171)

This article first appeared on ESPN.com

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.