Brian Stann has been to Japan just once and it was 32 years ago, but the Asian country has a special place in his heart.
It’s where he was born.
The UFC star returns there this weekend for the first time when he fights Wanderlei Silva at UFC on Fuel TV 8 on Saturday (10 p.m.) in Tokyo. It’s the first time Stann will headline a UFC card and he’ll be doing it in his birth country.
“There were a bunch of countries on my list to fight in,” Stann told The Post. “Japan was definitely No. 1.”
Stann, 32, spent eight months in Japan after his birth. His father was in the United States Air Force and stationed at the Yokota Air Base where Stann was born. Less than a year later, his father and mother split up and Stann moved with his mother to Pennsylvania. He has no relationship with his father, but still feels a tie to Japan.
“Growing up, it’s intriguing saying I was born here,” Stann said this week by phone from Tokyo. “It was cool, it was different.”
Stann won’t be able to visit Yokota in his short time in the country. The base, he says, is two trains and more than 90 minutes away from where he’s staying and with all the responsibilities during fight week it would be too difficult. He has been in touch with U.S. service men and women who are stationed in Japan through social media and many of them will be attending the fight Saturday night at Saitama Super Arena.
Stann is, without exaggeration, an American hero. He achieved the rank of captain in the Marines and when he was a lieutenant in 2005 his unit was ambushed by insurgents in Iraq. Stann and his Marines held out for six days under heavy attack before they could get air and tank support. All 42 men in his battalion survived the onslaught. Stann was awarded with the Silver Star, the nation’s third highest award for valor in combat. President George W. Bush mentioned Stann’s heroics in one of his speeches.
A year later, Stann had his first professional MMA fight and now he’s one of the sport’s greatest ambassadors. He’s also a top contender in the UFC middleweight division though Saturday’s fight against Silva will be at light heavyweight. Stann calls that a one-shot deal, because Silva didn’t want to cut to 185 for the bout. He couldn’t pass up fighting “The Axe Murderer” in Japan, where Silva is wildly popular after starring for years there in PRIDE.
“Anytime you get the opportunity to fight someone like Wanderlei you have to jump at that opportunity,” Stann said. “Japan, main event, that’s really special. That’s something I take seriously. When they stick you in a fight like that, that means something.”
Stann-Silva has the potential to produce fireworks. Both men love to stand and trade punches and each has serious power in his fists. Fuel TV analyst Kenny Florian, who will be color commentator for the card, calls it a match made in heaven.
“The way that their styles match up, that’s really what will make for an incredible fight,” Florian said.
Stann fully expects to face the wild, aggressive Silva that fans know and love. But he’s also aware that the Brazilian could shoot for a takedown and try to use his jiu-jitsu since that is not one of Stann’s strengths.
Either way, “The All-American” is prepared. That’s something he has made a living off of, from the military to cage fighting. It’s all coming full circle for him now, back in the country of his birth fighting for the first time as a UFC headliner.
“I’ve always wanted to come back,” Stann said. “I told my manager a few years ago that I’d love to fight in Japan, but it was really difficult. When [the UFC] finally started on this global expansion, it opened up the possibility. I’m pretty lucky.”
mraimondi@nypost.com