This was a great card by the UFC, with a championship bout and fights with past champs and contenders.

“The Prodigy” BJ Penn Vs Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez

A lot of people expected Diego to come out and control the pace in this fight, and on the official UFC poll, people’s predictions were almost split 50/50 between the 2 fighters. As I explained in my predictions, I really couldn’t see Diego matching BJ standing up or on the ground. Unfortunately for Diego, the nightmare started within the 1st 30 seconds of the 1st round. BJ Penn threw a right hand and dropped Diego, and it must of been very close to being called by the ref during the punishment taken on the ground. In my opinion the only reason Diego survived for the minute of punishment, was that he constantly tried to better his defensive position.

Once the fight went back to standing it was obvious that Diego Sanchez was hurting, unsteady and much more defensive.

Round 2 really sets the pace for the rest of the fight. BJ Penn shows off his stand up skills, and picks Diego apart. Sanchez keeps on trying for the single leg takedowns, but we all know just how great BJ Penn’s balance is. BJ uses the cage and his unbelievable balance to his advantage, and stops all takedown attempts.

Rounds 3 and 4 are very similar to the last. Diego Sanchez gets more and more damaged after each round, and has a real nasty split lip. The fight metric really shows just how much BJ Penn dominated. 150 successful strikes to 8…… wow!!

The fight ended in round 5. I don’t remember BJ Penn ever really throwing a head kick before, but he did, and it ended the fight! The cut resulting from the head kick was nasty, and it was bad enough for the doctor to stop the fight. BJ Penn wins via TKO (cut) at 2:37 of the 5th round.

The question on everyone’s minds is now, who can step up to challenge BJ Penn? I’m stumped….

Frank Mir Vs Cheick Kongo

I really struggled to predict this fight. Mir is easily one of the top jiu jitsu fighters in MMA, and Kongo has some sick ground and pound. I agree with what Dana White said before this fight. This is ending with a submission or a knock out…..

Within 40 seconds of the 1st round, Frank Mir throws a left and drops Kongo. 30 seconds is all it takes for Mir to secure a tight guillotine choke in half guard. Cheick Kongo was never going to tap out in this fight, after all the smack talk between the two fighters. Kongo loses consciousness and the referee pulls Mir away. Frank Mir wins by submission in 1:12 of the 1st round.

Jon Fitch Vs Mike Pearce

Fitch starts the 1st round by shooting for the single leg, and takes Mike Pearce down. For most of the 1st 3 minutes, Jon Fitch controls his opponent’s back but can never really go for a submission attempt. Mike Pearce shows some good posture, to stop himself from being flattened out by Fitch. The rest of the round is quite even, with Mike Pearce slamming Fitch, both exchanging in the clinch and at distance. The round must go to Jon Fitch.

The 2nd starts off even until Mike Pearce throws a kick which is caught by Fitch. Fitch takes him down and much of the 2nd round is controlled by him. Even though Mike connected with a few combos, Fitch works extremely hard in the clinch and takes the fight to the ground on a couple of occasions.

With the high possibility that Mike Pearce is down by 2 rounds, his corner instruct him to go out there and try and finish the fight. Pearce has Fitch against the cage for around a minute. Fitch connects with good knees and elbows, but in the final 30 seconds Mike Pearce really goes into overdrive and does all he can to finish Jon Fitch. He nearly succeeds, and Fitch is on very unsteady legs by the end of the fight. Jon Fitch wins the fight by unanimous decision.

Kenny Florian Vs Clay Guida

The fight starts off between these two exciting fighters with both exchanging with some pretty accurate martial arts. Kenny florian gets cut early on and Guida mixes his strikes very well. At about a minute of the 1st round, Kenny throws a head kick but loses his balance and Guida takes him down to the canvas and starts some ground and pound. Kenny utilises his great butterfly guard and they are both back on their feet shortly after. Towards the end of the round Kenny sprawls after Guida goes for another takedown, and he catches Guida with one of his well known elbows which opens up a real nasty cut on Guida’s head. The doctor takes a look at the cut but decides it’s not imparing Guida’s vision. Guida’s hair probably does a good job of that anyway!

At around the 2nd minute mark of the 2nd round Kenny Florian catches Guida with a solid right hook which drops him. Kenny Florian works on improving his position, gets Guida’s back and finishes the fight with a text book rear naked choke. Florian wins at 2:19 of round 2.

Paul Buentello Vs Stefan Struve

This ended up being one of the most exciting fights for the fans.

Struve connects with a good uppercut in the 1st round and most of the round has struve on Paul Buentello’s back attempting a choke. He locks Buentello in position with a body triangle but Buentello shows some great technique by constantly keeping busy and tucking his chin in to stop any choke attempts. Right at the end of the round, Paul Buentello gets on top but is unable to do any real damage until the bell rings.

The 2nd round was great. Paul Buentello hurts Struve twice in this round, one of which was probably the cause of Struve losing a tooth in his gum shield! The 2nd of these punches was when Struve attempted a flying knee but was caught flush in the mouth by Buentello. The rest of the round has both fighters really swinging, in what looked like a drunken brawl! They even smile after one of these exchanges and touch gloves. The crowd are going crazy!

Much of the 3rd round was controlled by Struve. He lands a bunch of leg kicks, and Paul Buentello is starting to slow down and feel their effects. The fight finishes with another great exchange between the two fighters. I definitely give Struve the final round. The fans boo at Stefan Struve’s majority decision win, but I personally think he won rounds 1 and 3 easily and it would of been debatable if Paul Buentello won the 2nd round by 2 clear points. I don’t think he done quite enough for the draw.

The other results were:

Kevin Burns vs TJ Grant – Grant wins by TKO (strikes) at 4:57 of round 1
DaMarques Johnson vs Edgar Garcia – Johnson wins via submission (triangle choke) at 4:03 of round 1
Rousimar Palhares vs Lucio Linhares – Palhares wins via submission (heel hook) at 3:21 of round 2
Johny Hendricks vs Ricardo Funch – Hendricks wins by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)
Matt Wiman vs Shane Nelson – Wiman wins by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Alan Belcher vs Wilson Gouveia – Belcher wins by TKO (strikes) at 3:03 of round 1

12/12/2009 – Fedex Forum – Memphis Tennessee

“The Prodigy” BJ Penn will be defending his UFC lightweight Belt against the Ultimate Fighter® season 1 winner Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez in what is already a great card in UFC 107.

BJ Penn has actually been unbeaten in the UFC lightweight division for nearly 8 years (last loss to Jens Pulver in Jan 2002). He is coming off an impressive win against Kenny Florian, in which he submitted him with a rear naked choke in UFC 101.

Since winning The Ultimate Fighter® season 1, Diego Sanchez has moved from Middleweight, to Welterweight and now to the Lightweight Division. At 5’11″ he is relativity large for a lightweight fighter and with his relentless style he should prove to be a tough opponent for the champion BJ Penn.

I’ll be predicting that BJ Penn wins this fight via submission. I think that his boxing and ground game is better than Diego’s, however, if the fight lasts more than 3 rounds I can see BJ Penn fading and Sanchez picking up the pace, which could lead to a very tight decision that could go either way.

Also former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir will fight the powerful Cheick Kongo. Frank Mir will be looking for another title shot, especially if an interim title comes into play due to Brock Lesnar’s illness. Cheick Kongo will need to beat Frank Mir and probably another top contender or 2 before being considered for a title shot, especially after losing to Cain Velasquez and with such a packed and talented heavyweight division in the UFC.

My prediction is for Cheick Kongo to win via TKO. I believe the only reason why he lost to Cain Velasquez was because Cain had such good wrestling, even after getting rocked. I don’t think Mir can stand with Kongo, and I dont believe Mir is likely to be able to take Kongo to the canvas. If Kongo keeps the fight standing and is weary of getting into Mir’s full guard, then Kongo should win this in my opinion.

Another fight that I’m really excited about is Kenny Florian vs Clay Guida. Clay Guida is always relentless and so exciting to watch, and Ken Flo has some brilliant Muay Thai and BJJ. Both Kenny and Clay are coming off losses to the main event’s fighters BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez respectively, and are looking to re-establish themselves in the lightweight division.

I think that Clay Guida’s style will play into Ken Flo’s favour which is why I am predicting than Kenny Florian will win this fight by submission. Kenny Florian’s short elbows and muay thai clinches will be dangerous if Clay gets in close quarters with him and on the ground Kenny has brilliant jui jitsu.

Fight Card:

Main Card

Lightweight Championship bout: BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez – Prediction BJ by Submission
Heavyweight bout: Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo – Prediction Kongo by TKO
Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Mike Pierce – Prediction Fitch by Decision
Lightweight bout: Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida – Prediction Florian by Submission
Heavyweight bout: Paul Buentello vs. Stefan Struve – Prediction Struve by Submission

Preliminary Card

Middleweight bout: Alan Belcher vs. Wilson Gouveia – Prediction Gouveia
Lightweight bout: Matt Wiman vs. Shane Nelson – Prediction Wiman
Welterweight bout: Johny Hendricks vs. Ricardo Funch – Prediction Hendricks
Middleweight bout: Rousimar Palhares vs. Lucio Linhares – Prediction Palhares
Welterweight bout: DaMarques Johnson vs. Edgar Garcia – Prediction Johnson
Welterweight bout: Kevin Burns vs. TJ Grant – Prediction Burns