UFC 101 Card Finalized

Fight Lineups Set for "Declaration"

With a little over two weeks left, the UFC recently confirmed the full lineup for “UFC 101: Declaration”.

Featuring a main event of “The Prodigy” BJ Penn defending his UFC Lightweight Championship against Kenny “KenFlo” Florian, the UFC’s first foray into Pennsylvania promises to bring a stellar night of fights. Coming in as a none-too-shabby co-main event is current Middleweight kingpin Anderson “The Spider” Silva bouncing back up to 205 lbs. to take on former Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin.

The full card breaks down like this-

UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian

205 lbs.: Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva

185 lbs.: Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks

185 lbs.: Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida

155 lbs.: Kurt Pellegrino vs. Josh Neer

155 lbs.: Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley

170 lbs.: John Howard vs. Tamdan McCrory

185 lbs.: Alessio Sakara vs. Thales Leites

170 lbs.: Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer

155 lbs.: George Sotiropoulos vs. Rob Emerson

170 lbs.: Danillo Villefort vs. Jesse Lennox

While the two top fights have taken all the interest, the undercard is stacked in its own way: fighters like Amir Sadollah and Kendall Grove bring in some name value while also possessing considerable talent, while folks like Kurt Pellegrino, Ricardo Almeida, and Alessio Sakara always make their fights tough and entertaining, even in defeat.

But of course, the story centers around Penn/Florian and Silva/Griffin. For the “Prodigy” fans, the logic train moves like this: Sean Sherk manhandled Florian. BJ Penn manhandled Sean Sherk. Kenny Florian is no threat to BJ Penn.

I respectfully disagree.

The Kenny Florian that will be facing BJ Penn is far more advanced than the one that faced Sean Sherk. He’s better at all aspects: striking, submissions, position control…on and on. Kenny Florian is a threat, plain and simple. Don’t count him out at all. I expect this fight to be a real war, and possibly one of the year’s best.

Another match with FOTY potential is Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin. Non-Silva fans may balk at that given how Silva’s last two performances have been so snooze-worthy. But you can take this to heart: Forrest Griffin doesn’t care that Anderson is one of the UFC’s deadliest strikers when he choose to be. Forrest Griffin, take my word on it, is going to come out guns blazing, determined to make it a fight and bring out Silva’s best. I see Silva finally opening up and showing the brilliance that made him famous, and I don’t see Griffin going down easily. Griffin is a glutton for punishment, so if Silva thinks he’ll have it made with a couple of counters, he’s in for a long night. As a lifelong fan of “The Spider”, I can’t wait to see this one.

As always, stay tuned to MMAFigs.com for the latest on UFC 101 and much more.

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