UFC 127 Penn vs Fitch marks the second official event that the Ultimate Fighting Championship will hold in the land down under.
Main Card:
Penn (16-7-1) vs Fitch (23-3-0)
Bisping (20-3-0) vs Rivera (19-7-0)
Sotiropoulos (14-2-0) vs Siver (17-7-0)
Lytle (30-17-5) vs Ebersole (46-14-1(1))
Noke (18-4-1) vs Camozzi (14-3-0)
This event may not seem so important to many fans who don't have the sufficient funds to purchase every PPV the UFC schedules, though the bouts involved being amped up in importance may lead them to reconsider.
B.J. Penn is a 2x UFC champion (1x Welterweight & 1x Lightweight) and will be facing longtime contender Jon Fitch in the main event which has been promoted as a #1 contender bout that will earn them a first in line spot to face the potential winner of the upcoming UFC 129 title bout between champion Georges St. Pierre & challenger Jake Shields for the Welterweight title. Penn won over critics who said he may be at the end of his career with a quick 21 seconds when he knocked out fellow former champion Matt Hughes which snapped a two fight losing streak to defend & retake his Lightweight title. Fitch is coming in on a five fight Unanimous Decision win streak as he used his wrestling credentials to take down & grind his opponents as he has worked to earn a second shot at the title after being dominated by St. Pierre the first time around. This bout guarantees action as Fitch will not be able to use his usual grinding style against a world class black belt in BJJ. Standing wise, Penn's boxing will go against Fitch's kick boxing. Both contenders will have to mix up their styles to come out on top with their hand raised. Fitch will look to break Penn, while Penn will look to land his heavy hands on "the button" or look to catch Fitch in a submission.
Serving as the co-main event will be a heated Middleweight bout between British MMA star Michael Bisping and veteran Jorge Rivera. Bisping is riding a two fight win streak with two Unanimous Decision wins over Dan Miller & Yoshihiro Akiyama. Rivera is riding a three fight win streak with the last two being by TKO. After multiple scheduling difficulties including being forced off cards with injury & an opponent who pulled out the day of the bout due to sickness, Rivera is finally returning to the octagon against a big name opponent. Title implications are not really on the line in this bout, though a win for either may earn the victor a step up in competition. This bout has heated up though with trash talk from Rivera poking fun at Bisping with simple insults that the Brit is taking personal. This bout does not look like it will go to the ground, & will assuredly stay standing with Bisping's evolving kick boxing & Muay Thai skills, & Rivera will use his usual slugger striking style while looking to show what improvements he has made to his game.
A hometown display will be presented as Australian George Sotiropoulos looks to earn an eighth consecutive UFC win over one of the best Lightweight kick boxers in Russian-German fighter Denis Siver. BJJ black belt Sotiropoulos is a veteran of TUF6 & has been undefeated in the UFC since his debut in late 2007 earning his eighth submission victory at UFC 123 over Joe Lauzon. Siver is on a two fight win streak with a recent Rnd1 Submission win over TUF9 runner-up in the second promotional card in Germany. Sotiropoulos will look to avoid the power of Siver and work his way to the mat to go for that submission win or prove his striking has improved as a brawling Australian. Siver will look to avoid going to the mat and keep it standing at a range where he can land powerful hands & chopping kicks to earn another finish and move towards title contention. Recently it was said that a win for Sotiropoulos would move him in close range to contender recognition in the 155lb division.
Though this bout has been plagued with an injury to one of the original scheduled fighters, the replacement may prove to still make this an interesting bout. The original schedule had former WEC Welterweight champion Carlos Condit to face TUF4 runner up Chris Lytle in a bout that would have sent the victor towards contender status in the 170lb division, though a knee injury sustained by Condit took him off the card. As a late replacement for Condit comes in experienced new addition Brian Ebersole. While Lytle isn't getting the match up that would have assured an assent in rank, a finish may still earn him that recognition as at age 36 and four years since his last #1 contender shot, this and any bouts that follow may be his last chance at the title. The goal for Lytle will be as usual to look for the finish & earn that fight night bonus. Ebersole will fight in his 63rd bout and just a couple days after the 11yr anniversary of his first professional fight. Not many fans who watch this event will know Ebersole, though his experience may lead to a back-&-forth fight as he has 33 total finishes in wins. While Lytle will be the obvious favorite to win by odds makers, an upset by Ebersole is not far from possible.
The first bout on the main card will also serve as a homeland display as Kyle Noke of Australia meets American Chris Camozzi. This bout will be a reunion of two TUF11 alumni as Noke of Team Liddell faces Camozzi of Team Ortiz. Each fighter is coming off a four fight win streak with Noke earning a Rnd2 Submission win at UFC 122, and Camozzi earning a Split Decision at UFC 121. Both can be considered evenly matched in some ways, though it is obvious that Noke is the hard striking Australian & Camozzi is the average fighter where ever it goes. Noke will be the hometown favorite & will definitely be greeted with deafening roars of thousands of fans from the homeland.
No comments:
Post a Comment