
Main card
- Lightweight Championship bout: B.J. Penn (c) vs. Diego Sanchez
- Heavyweight bout: Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo
- Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Mike Pierce
- Lightweight bout: Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida
- Heavyweight bout: Paul Buentello vs. Stefan Struve
Preliminary Card
- Middleweight bout: Alan Belcher vs. Wilson Gouveia
- Lightweight bout: Matt Wiman vs. Shane Nelson
- Welterweight bout: Johny Hendricks vs. Ricardo Funch
- Middleweight bout: Rousimar Palhares vs. Lucio Linhares
- Welterweight bout: DaMarques Johnson vs. Edgar Garcia
- Welterweight bout: Kevin Burns vs. TJ Grant
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Man... what a fucking card. That main event alone is worth $40 as far as I'm concerned, but the rest of the main card couldn't be more solid either, when you look at it.
I absolutely, positively cannot call the BJ Penn/Diego Sanchez fight. Never have I ever been so split on a fight. These are two of my absolute favorite fighters in the sport (both are definitely in my top 10, if not 5), and it's going to be really hard to see one of them lose. But hopefully it'll end up being a GREAT fight like I expect, and both can walk out that octagon with their heads held up high at the end of it. Can't wait to see it.
Mir vs. Kongo is a very interesting match-up. I think Mir will test his stand-up against Kongo, even though Kongo's ground game is very suspect. The fact of the matter is that Mir's striking looked absolutely tremendous against Big Nog and Lesnar, so I think he's going to want to see how it goes against a true kickboxer and one of the best strikers in all of the Heavyweight Division. I think Mir believes he has a strong enough chin to withstand anything Kongo throws at him, and he can rely on his ground game if he ever gets in trouble. And honestly... that's exactly what I think will end up happening. Kongo will rock Mir, go to the ground to capitalize, only to get submitted.
Mike Pierce is by no means a bad fighter, but if Fitch takes this seriously, as I expect he will, then this fight should be no trouble for him. Pierce looked good against Larson, but Jon Fitch is a completely different kind of animal than Brock Larson. However, if Fitch somehow does lose this fight... then he'll be all the back down the bottom of the Welterweight ladder. And that's totally unfair, if you ask me. I have no idea why the UFC didn't get this guy a more known fighter. But at the end of the day... I don't see Fitch losing, so it'll just be another fight to keep him being ranked as the 2nd best Welterweight in the World today.
Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida is going to be fucking epic. And I think it'll be like nearly all of Guida's other fights: Fast pace for 15 minutes, with a little of everything. Unfortunately, I think once again Guida will come up short on the judges scorecard, though. Florian is just too dangerous at every aspect of the game. I don't think Guida will be able to get the upper hand on him much throughout the fight. He'll be able to take whatever Florian dishes at him, which is what will make the fight awesome, but I'm not too sure if he will ever catch Florian slipping to a point where he could get the upper hand on him and keep it. It'd be awesome if I was wrong though, because there's nothing more I would like to see than Guida getting this big of a win under his belt.
Paul Buentello vs. Stefan Struve should be a decent enough fight. Both have looked very good in their past few fights, but honestly... neither will ever make any noise in the Heavyweight Division, so I guess overall the fight doesn't matter. But hopefully they put on a show for us.
And as far as the Prelims.... well, first of all, hopefully two of those fights air on Spike, but nothing's been announced as of right now. But if they air those top two fights, then I'll be fairly pleased. I think Matt Wiman vs. Shane Nelson will be a war (I really like the both of them), and Alan Belcher vs. Wilson Gouveia should be a really good fight as well. I have Nelson and Belcher winning both of those, but it won't be easy. And the rest of the prelims I have no comment on, since I honestly don't give a damn about any of those fighters.