BJ Penn will defend his title against Diego Sanchez
“In this sport it sometimes takes years for fighters to find the weight class where they’re at their best,” UFC President Dana White said. “I don’t think there’s any question that BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez have finally found their homes at 155 pounds, making the UFC 107 main event a fight between the best Penn and Sanchez we’ve ever seen. BJ hasn’t lost in this weight class in years, and Diego has looked unstoppable in his lightweight fights, and when these two meet in the center of the Octagon, it’s going to make our first trip to Memphis one fight fans will never forget.”
“Thanks to the vision of our owner, Michael Heisley and the diligence and hard work of our staff, the help of state legislators and the UFC, we have cleared a path for UFC to make its way to the state of Tennessee and the city of Memphis,” said Steve Zito, Senior Vice President, Arena Operations and Entertainment for FedExForum. “By helping to bring UFC to the state of Tennessee we will have the opportunity to continue to showcase the city of Memphis and FedExForum as a world-class arena.”
Unbeaten at 155 pounds for nearly eight years with nine finishes in his 10 lightweight victories, BJ Penn (fighting out of Hilo, Hawaii) has ruled the 155-pound division with an iron fist, finishing top contenders Joe Stevenson, Sean Sherk, and Kenny Florian along the way. The refocused 30-year-old lightweight champion and former welterweight champion came into his title defense against Florian at August’s UFC 101 in the best shape of his brilliant career, and Penn (14-5-1) combined a flawless game plan and world-class conditioning to submit his fellow Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with a rear naked choke in the fourth round of his third fight in 2009. Now the champion’s conditioning will be put to the ultimate test when he faces the new No. 1 contender.
“I can’t wait to defend the title,” Penn said. “I know what kind of competitor Diego Sanchez is and I am training very hard. This will be a good test.”
“The Prodigy” will face a challenger as willing as he is to leave it all on the line in The Ultimate Fighter(tm) Season One winner Diego Sanchez (fighting out of San Diego, Calif.), who has reinvented himself as a unstoppable cardio machine that won’t quit moving forward until he wears the UFC championship belt around his waist. The 27-year-old Albuquerque, N.M. native with the 23-2 professional record is on a four-fight win streak and is 2-0 since dropping down to lightweight with exciting wins over Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida. This will mark Sanchez’s first title fight, and if the former welterweight, who won his first 19 professional fights, tops Penn, he will join Matt Serra, Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans as the fourth The Ultimate Fighter(tm) show winner to earn a UFC title.
“I’ve always wanted to face the best,” Sanchez said. “I’ve worked so hard for this and now I finally have a shot at the title. I’m training like I’ve never trained before and I expect an all-out war.”
Plus, in the UFC 107 co-main event, two-time UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir (fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev.) returns to the Octagon to begin his quest for a third title, and to move back up the ladder in one of the sport’s toughest divisions. With finishing wins in three of his last four fights against names such as Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira and Antoni Hardonk, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace with the 12-4 record will need all of his elite level experience to thwart the devastating attack of his next opponent.
“Cheick Kongo is one of the best strikers in the UFC,” Mir said. “I’m coming off a loss and I definitely want to get back on the road to the title. I think this will be a difficult challenge.”
Another heavyweight with finishing wins in three of his last four fights, 6-foot-4, 240-pound Cheick Kongo (fighting out of Paris, France) combines power and superior striking skills every time he steps into the Octagon(tm). The imposing 34-year-old, who has seven UFC wins, holds a 24-5-1 record and knows that a win over a superstar like Mir will move him ever closer to his first title opportunity.
“In the UFC, you can’t take any opponents lightly,” Kongo said. “But when you face a former champion such as Frank Mir, you’re expecting one of the toughest fights of your career. It’s going to be a classic.”
Also added to the stacked UFC 107 main card is a welterweight showdown between fellow Brazilians Thiago “Pitbull” Alves and Paulo Thiago, two of the division’s top competitors.
One of the most feared strikers in the sport today, Fortaleza-born Thiago Alves (22-5) is a Muay Thai wrecking machine whose fists and feet have sent the likes of Tony DeSouza, Chris Lytle, Karo Parisyan, Matt Hughes, and Josh Koscheck to defeat. Now fighting out of Coconut Creek, Florida, the 26 year old banger will look to rebound from his courageous five round loss against champion Georges St-Pierre in July by stopping the rise of Paulo Thiago and getting back on the road to another title shot.
A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt with multiple titles to his name, Brasilia’s Paulo Thiago surprisingly made his name in the UFC with a spectacular one punch knockout of Josh Koscheck at UFC 95 in February, showing the world that he is as dangerous standing as he is on the mat. On December 12th, the 11-1 fighter and member of Brazil’s special operations police force – who is coming off a hard-fought battle with Jon Fitch – will look to lay down the law to Thiago Alves.
discrace,it should have been rampage vs evans but this match was suppose to happen on the english,manchester card.it’s safe to say this is bj penns hardest defence of the lw belt so far.bj may well be having nightmares.
I doubt it man. What is Diego going to be able to do to Penn? He looks like a great striker against guys like Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson. Penn’s hands are underrated and quick as hell. Sanchez gets wild with his strikes when he gets inside, which could very well be a bad thing if Penn starts throwing his signature hook uppercut combinations. Also, training jiu-jitsu with Saulo Ribeiro doesn’t make him the next Saulo Ribeiro, I’m sorry but it doesn’t. T don’t think he’s ready for Penn on the ground. I dn’t think he’ll be able to take BJ down anyway.
Can u say rear naked choke?
Oh I would love to see BJ put him in a rear naked and choke him out. It doesn’t matter though, whether they stand or go to the ground Penn is going to tear him apart.
Not a huge fan of BJ Penn the human being, but as the lightweight UFC champ, he’s brilliant. Don’t think Sanchez has anything in his arsenal that will push BJ into any kind of distress, and fully expect Penn to continue his domination of the weight class.
blow job penn has heart for sure,that gsp fight he took a BEATING AND CARRIED ON.
To the death….
Couldn’t resist!
Daley, I never took you for a Prodigy hater, haha don’t worry I won’t hold it against you. Sure, Penn has brought a lot of the hate on himself, but he’s one of the best like it or not. Diego just isn’t ready for him.
b j is one of the best,what he says about himself having heart and guts is all true and his natural born gifts.sanches brings a nasty pace and i am so rooting and wanting sanchez to win by stoppage.sanchez is the future.
Don’t think so. Sanchez was called the future four years ago when he won TUF, then what happened? Went on a streak with some decent wins, some not so decent, lost two fights, fell off, then he beats Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida, and now he’s the future? I just don’t see it. He’s great, but I don’t see him winning the lightweight championship for a while if BJ is the one defending it.
sanchez already beat koscheck,it seems sanchez has a problem with good wrestlers who can strike.i know why that is,it’s because sanchez attack is his pace,he has no pace if put on his ass,blow job penn aint going to do that,i see half guard couple of elbows slicing the prodigy up.that’s what im wanting.pretend to go for a kimura and bang elbow him while he is trying to defend the submission.try break bj’s nose to take his gas away and bit of his vision.
BJ will knock sanchez on his ass, mark my words, then the bjj clinic will begin. Sanchez is great but the bj is on another level at 155. The only one that’ll beat bj is bj himself. If he over looks sanchez and doesn’t train right then he’s in deep. I don’t see that being an issue with marijuanavich sr. training him in strength & conditioning.
we’ve got GSP, Anderson Silva, and BJ Penn…all champions in their perspective weight classes without peer. They all have the potential to dominate for the duration of their careers. I wanna Diego against BJ…Diego doesn’t know how to quit and I’m not sure that ( at 155) BJ knows how to lose, now at least…
b j’s number is up.i think gsp is getting the worse of defences and soon he will lose that belt.
Whoa there Daley, Koshceck beat Sanchez. Not only did Sanchez lose, he looked awful in that fight, he didn;t want to engage Koshcheck. This was particularly bad for Sanchez because the whole time leading up to that fight, he acted lke a complete prick to Koshcheck. Then not only did he lose, he didn;t even bring a fight, while the whole time Josh was moving forward and throwing punches and head kicks and the works. That just made Diego look like a bitch to me to be honest.
I definately don’t think BJ’s number i up, after the rematch with GSP, I don’t think BJ is trying to lose again for a long time, if his number was ever up it was then. He will box diego up on the feet, and snake all over him on the ground, and I doubt Diego will be able to take BJ down anyway.
As for GSP losing his belt soon, I don’t see it. I would say a guy like Paul Daley might KO him except for three reasons: 1. He learned his lesson against Matt Serra 2. Thiago Alves is definately more dangerous than Daley…look what happened 3. Paul Daley is a great striker but not a great mixed martial artist, GSP will have no problem taking Paul Daley down, and when he does, it’s not gonna look like Daley’s fight with Jake Shields, trust me. It’s gonna be bloody, possibly even painful to watch. Personally, I think pretty much all of GSP’s worst title defenses are behind him, and his hardest fights. He’s soundly beaten all of the other top welterweights. He beat Koshcheck before he got the belt back, won the belt back, smashed Jon Fitch who is probably the best welterweight fighter in the world other than GSP, smashed Penn, and smashed ALves who a lot of people thought would be able to stuff GSPs takedowns (in hindsight that was a ridiculous thought, even though I kind of thought that too) and KO him, but he got smothered and brutalized. Who’s left? Kampmann is out of the picture, and I never would have thought he had a chance anyway. Swick? He’s nowhere near ready, and a win over a guy like Daley wouldn’t mean he’s ready either. You guys aleady know how I feel about Daley, and I suspect most would agree with me. And then there’s no one, except Fitch or Koshcheck in a rematch, in which neither of them have much of a chance. It’s too bad Swick, Koshcheck, and Fitch are all AKA and won;t fight each other. It’s easy for them to call out Matt Hughes, but conveniently ignore the fact that all of the sudden they’re all in the same weight class and they are in this cushy position where they don’t fight each other, but every other 170 pounder has to work around that.
haha,im sorry kimura,i did put a few things in there to push the button’s and not give my truthful opinion in my last message.im going to wait to see who actually fight’s gsp next before i give an opinion.i will say i though alves was a guy who could beat gsp and i was impressed with the way he handled alves.the gsp koscheck fight i was impressed with how gsp controlled and made koscheck unable to make any kind of attack.in my honest opinion sanches can do it,i even think a tko.b j penn’s number isnt up,even if he loses the belt i would be suprised if he get’s it back.
Yo dirty, I very much doubt he will tko bj. It took Matt Hughes, who is waaaayyyy more powerful than sanchez to hold him down and tko him. This was AFTER bj gassed and he still didn’t ko him. I not sure if I just don’t remember or if I missed it, but I don’t recall sanchez ko’ing anyone. For some reason or the other neither has bj(in quite a while), but we all know that he packs some serious power in those hands. He rocked Stevenson, mangled gsp’s face, kI’d caol uno and beat the crap outta Matt Hughes, though he lost to Hughes and gsp. He still worked ‘em good. Sanchez’s only chance is a flash ko. He shoulda fought florian first then bj if he made past him.
Agreed Cisco, you make some great points, and Daley, haha it’s cool man no hard feelings on Madness. Cisco, Hughes didn;t even actually knock BJ out at all, BJ couldn’t move because he was gassed and he had a broken rib. Not to make excuses, but that’s literally what happened. I mean, let’s be honest, Hughes is great and a beast, but could he really have outgrappled BJ Penn otherwise?
Also, I too think Sanchez should’ve had another fight before the title shot, but there’s really nobody else to fight BJ at the moment, and Sanchez did have a big win over Clay Guida, who hadn’t been beaten in a while. I could actually see Clay giving Kenny a lot of trouble if Kenny can’t stop his takedowns.
Just as an afterthought, when BJ KO’d Uno, that was crazy. He pounded the guy’s face in, bowed, and ran out. classic.
Everyone knows my opinion on penn already so i don’t need to waste time typing it again but i have to say after seeing bj actually go to the 4th round and finish florian the way everyone knew he would i told myself penn has 155 on lockdown right now and the only 2 other challengers i see for him are Aoki & Hellboy
BJ will walk through Sanchez,then who’s he got to fight at 155?! The likes of Sherk,Stevenson,Florian and Uno were hardly a test for him, so Edgar,Maynard,Griffin,Fisher,Diaz and Pellegrino are not gonna stand a chance either!!! UFC has a stacked Lightweight division but its stacked with gatekeepers,so until they bring the likes of Aoki,Hansen & Alvarez to the UFC then he’s getting the cake walk!!!!!
Hell….Even get Faber,Brown and Aldo to step up 10lbs. Fuck it bring all the best Featherweights and Lightweights from across the globe because the way BJ is dominating at 155,he isn’t gonna get a scratch!!! A fight with Kid Yamamoto would be a scrap!!!
boo,i like both your ideas bout alverez,calvancante and about bringing the fw up but i wouldnt disregard the boy’s that are there just yet.sanchez is a big 155,i like fisher also,he could give bj a scrap,i dont like uno but he did draw with penn in a title fight years ago.sherk still has potential,he has a strong base with his wrestling and power but i feel he needs to change ideas and coaches and see if that work’s.
I don’t know about all this guys. Aoki? Great armbar vctory over Hellboy, but seriously, it was in the last ten seconds of the fight, Hellboy had it in the bag till then. BJ would smash Aoki, Aoki likely couldn’t get BJ to the ground, and BJ would pound the little guy’s face in. Not to mention, if BJ got top position on Aoki, there would be elbow afterelbow after elbow, which is something Shinya is protected from right now. Not to mention he wouldn’t be allowed to wear those grappling pants in America, which do make a difference. Hellboy wouldn’t stand much of a chance either, he might frustrate the Prodigy with his reach, but when BJ gets a clinch, he’s gonna beat Hansen up, same thing with Aoki. Oh, and let me just mention, when Aoki went to the ADCC, he got leglocked by Roger Gracie in like a minute-and-a-half. Obviously Roger is much bigger, but he leglocked him…in no time.
Eddie Alvarez is obviously sick, but I don’t think he’s ready for BJ yet, he throws heavy hands, but he’s sloppy and gets clipped, Kawajiri almost KO’d him. On the ground, BJ would maul Eddie, which I’m sorry to say because I like Alvarez.
Kid Yamamoto is my boy, one of my favorite fighters, and he’s a big featherweight who could convincingly make 155 I think. However, if he fought BJ I think it would look a lot like when BJ fought Takanori Gomi. Kid is likely a more well-rounded striker than Gomi, but neither of them have anything to offer BJ when the clinch comes into play. BJ beat the shit out of Gomi, and a lot of it was him throwing nasty inside strikes from a clinched-up position, which would do well against Yamamoto, who can throw nasty knees, but BJ moves too much and too well for Kid to be really effective there.
spencer fisher has just come out and said he want’s b j penn.
Bj will school him, Spencer is waaayyy too sloppy and will get caught easily.
Yeah kimura, that’s what pissed me off about that Hughes/Penn fight. Bj was whooping that ass in rd 1, then when he got caught in rd 2 he was stuck there looking frustrated more than anything. If they would fight now and bj trains with marijuanvich as strength & conditiong coach bj will whoop his ass!!
So after sanchez who’s left? Cannon fodder! Will they throw whoever at him just to keep him busy? I bet Gray Maynard gets the next shot( and loses), but what else can they do?
Bj should stay at 155 and defend his belt a few more times then retire and teach jitz in hilo like he wants to. Spencer fisher and everyone else will get owned by penn.
Another easy win for Baby Jay.. Yawn… He should fight Grease SP again.. this time fair and square..
Hahahaha I wondered when Red would chirp up and have his say,long time mate!!! GSP would smash him AGAIN then go on and beat whoever he wants!!! But BJ will rule 155 until someone else as bad comes along and poses a challenge!!!
That’s the thing Dillips, even the best 155ers i Japan right now aren’t bad enough for Penn. Aoki would get smashed with or without those fuckin pants, he’s a sick grappler, but put him up against other world-class grapplers like BJ and you won’t see any gogoplattas from the mount or last second armbars, that’s for damn sure. Not to mention if Aoki takes a flurry of clean shots he’s in trouble, as botht Hellboy Hansen and Mach Sakurai have proven very recently.
Spencer Fisher is great, but not on BJ’s level. The guy lost to Sam Stout! Furthermore, I thought the decision win he just got over Uno was extremely questionable considering Uno basically mounted the only significant offense and did the only real damage of the entire fight.
Damn we need the forums back soon! its getting boring posting on these headlines
with you raging bull,i really dont like it like this.does anyone.who would prefer the old way?
definately prefer the old way. they tried to make this sight into 5 ounces of pain and it failed miserably. not only did they blow off the forums, but they can’t even keep up with their own features. remember how they said that court of mma bullshit was gonna be every two weeks? how long ago was that?
i see they tried to make it better but it isnt.said months back that half of the guys who use to be on before the change have gone and we have had only 2 new members since.i still post to keep in touch with you guys but the old madness was 10 times better.in fact perfect.come on hec or whoever is in charge of madness,give us our old madness back.