The UFC formally announced Tuesday the first three bouts for UFC 107 on Dec. 12 at the FedExForum in Memphis: BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez, Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo and Thiago Alves vs. Paulo Thiago.The promotion had booked the show with the location in mind to coincide with Memphis-born light heavyweight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's expected fight against Rashad Evans as the culmination of their coaching feud on The Ultimate Fighter 10 series. However, Jackson's film pursuits will stall the grudge match and Penn vs. Sanchez was moved from UFC 105 to UFC 107 to have a championship bout round out the final UFC event of 2009.
Penn (14-5-1), who will make his third defense of the lightweight belt, is coming off a rear-naked choke submission win over Kenny Florian at UFC 101 in August. He'll defend against a fighter whose been a lightweight for less than a year. Sanchez (23-2)'s wins over Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida -- both Fight of the Nights -- have apparently been enough to warrant a shot at the title.
Mir (12-4)'s blunt responses towards Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's remarks suggesting that a staph infection and an injury contributed to his loss to Mir at UFC 92 last year, have fueled interest in a rematch, but Mir will indeed take on Kongo (24-5-1) in a scrap between two heavyweights looking to avoid back-to-back losses and further descent down the rankings. Mir fell short of the UFC heavyweight title in July when he was bloodied up from ground and pound strikes by champion Brock Lesnar and Kongo's title hopes slipped away in a loss at UFC 99 in June against Cain Velasquez, who after the win is likely one fight (Ben Rothwell) away from a title shot.
Adding to probably the toughest workload ever for a recent UFC newcomer, Thiago (11-1) will face recent title challenger Alves (22-5). It was only February when Thiago upsetted Josh Koscheck, but while the win saved him his job, he's been assigned Jon Fitch and now Alves to close out his first year as a UFC welterweight.
Other bouts expected for the main card are heavyweights Paul Buentello (27-10) vs. Todd Duffee (6-0) and lightweights Kenny Florian (13-4) vs. Clay Guida (25-7).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-13-2009 @ 11:28PM
Guitar God!!!!!! said...
Penn-Sanchez....fight of the year, or damn close. Mark my words....with a Sharpie.
Reply
10-14-2009 @ 11:07AM
richardbikle said...
neo, you need to step in here and explain why these are such compelling fights because my pulse aint racing.
i like it penns going to fight someone more his size, and there complaints about brock cutting 20-25 lbs, penns walking arounf 175-180 betweem fights.
Reply
10-14-2009 @ 1:54PM
M13 said...
How much do you think Penn weighs upon entering his fights?
10-14-2009 @ 7:27PM
richardbikle said...
my guess is about 170 to 175
10-15-2009 @ 12:21PM
M13 said...
That was my main concern about our conversation the other day about weight issue. To cut that much weight is one thing, but to gain it back and fight much more over the weight limit is something else (i.e. GSP, Thiago Alves, and a bunch of others). That completely destroys the purpose of having weight limits.
10-15-2009 @ 1:17PM
richardbikle said...
M, i'd really like them to weigh in at the bottom step of the ring. i'm with you 100%. coincidently, many champions past and present are the best at cutting weight. penn, silva, maybe even lesnar would get their az handed to them if they had to make weight within 5 minutes of the start of the fight. penn and silva owe most of their success to fighting much smaller guys; a statement i take constant heat for.
10-15-2009 @ 2:48PM
Eric said...
This is one issue we definitely don't agree on.
I'm quite certain that BJ Penn weighed in at 167 for his 2nd fight against GSP, and it was quite obvious that GSP was much larger. BJ is much smaller than Alves, Swick, Condit, Hardy, Fitch, Johnson, Saunders, and many others that fight at 170 as well.
I'm uncertain why you pick BJ to rag on when all fighters cut weight ... most cut as much or more than BJ.
10-15-2009 @ 5:57PM
M13 said...
Eric is on point. BJ officially weighed 168 lbs. for his fight with GSP at UFC 94. He could have possibly gained a few more pounds after the weigh in by rehydrating, if he needed to cut weight. Though he does not appear to be a big guy to me. But again, the main issue is about fighters that enter these fights and are, in my opinion, drastically over the weight limit.
10-15-2009 @ 11:20PM
richardbikle said...
GSP weighed in @ 170, GSP had a one inch and three pound advantage on penn, not much really.
i'm just pointing out that much of their success comes from cutting weight.
that and i dont like penn. i think him and his hui buddies are criminal azwipes that prey on the weak, and i think penn is really prejudice, because he thinks its a fault to have haole (caucasian) blood... unless of course penn is an old hawaiian name.