Penn-Fitch Rematch Among Four Fights Added To UFC 132The Ultimate Fighting Championship has announced plans for a quartet of quality fights for UFC 132 on July 2nd in Las Vegas, Nevada. Among them is a welterweight rematch between former two-division UFC champion “The Prodigy” B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch. The pair fought to a Draw last month.

Also announced were three lightweight bouts featuring six top prospects and contenders. Knockout artist Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard will clash with Shane Roller, George Sotiropoulos will battle Evan Dunham, and rising German star Dennis Siver will square off against “Handsome” Matt Wiman.

Penn (16-7-2) had looked to make another run at the UFC Welterweight Championship – a title he first captured over seven years ago – after back-to-back lightweight losses to current 155-pound ace Frankie “The Answer” Edgar last year. His return to welterweight was initially successful, as he needed a mere 21 seconds to knock out fellow ex-champion Matt Hughes, but Penn was fortunate to escape with the Draw in his first bout with Fitch. Penn employed an effective game plan of takedowns and submission attempts early on, but Fitch began to take control as the fight progressed. After a lopsided final round, the fight went to the scorecards, where two judges ruled the bout even while a third scored it for Fitch.

Following the fight, Penn hinted at retirement, but later reconsidered and opted to continue fighting on for the time being. Should he lose to Fitch in the July rematch, there is a very real possibility that the fight may be Penn’s final appearance competing inside the Octagon.

Fitch (23-3-1, 1 NC) had won a staggering 21 of his last 22 bouts leading up to his first battle with Penn. During that time, he totalled big victories over Thiago Alves (twice), Diego Sanchez, Paulo Thiago, Mike Pierce and Ben Saunders. Though sometimes a target of criticism from fans for not employing the most fan-friendly of styles, Fitch’s stifling top control and clinch game have been too much for all but two of his UFC foes and many believed that he deserved the victory against Penn the first time. Fitch will now have a second chance to take out the promotional legend, and a victory could set up a long-awaited rematch between Fitch and UFC Welterweight Champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre.

 

Once subjected to post-fight ridicule from victorious opponent Rich Clementi in December 2007, Guillard (27-8-2, 1 NC) has completely turned his career around since that time and has now won seven of his last eight fights. His lone defeat during that time came in a September 2009 bout with Nate Diaz; a fight Guillard was winning before a mental lapse led to a second-round submission defeat. In Roller (10-3-0), he meets a heavy-handed wrestler who has only gone to a decision one time in his career. Both fighters are coming off of knockout wins, as Guillard stopped Evan Dunham in January and Roller dispatched of Thiago Tavares earlier this month.

Previously on a fast track to title shots, Dunham (11-2-0) and Sotiropoulos (14-3-0) now find themselves forced to battle back after tough losses. In Dunham’s case, he has now dropped two straight fights after opening his career with 11 consecutive victories, though most observers believed that he deserved the win against Sean Sherk last September. Sotiropoulos most recently suffered his first UFC loss at the hands of Dennis Siver. Known for his wrestling and punching power, Dunham will now be forced to deal with Sotiropoulos’s top-notch submission game as the two prospects look to get back in the lightweight title hunt. A third loss for Dunham could send him back to preliminary card action.

For Siver (18-7-0) and Wiman (13-5-0), once seen as also-rans in the UFC’s competitive lightweight division, both fighters have a chance to finally achieve contender status with a big victory in July. Siver opened his UFC career with just one win in his first four fights, while Wiman suffered a knockout loss in his debut. Since that time, however, both have put together impressive strings of victories that include notable wins over highly-regarded opponents. Siver has now won seven of his last eight, and his victory over Sotiropoulos has put him in reach of a future title shot. Wiman has won seven of nine and most recently defeated Cole Miller in January.

UFC 132 takes place on July 2nd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

 

 

(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)

  1. this starting to look like an awesome card. i think the penn fitch fight showed how flawed the 10 point scoring system is. fitch won the fight , but if applied right bj should of got the decision. no way was that 3rd rd a 10-8 rd , edgar-maynard rd1 was a 10-8 rd. but it was definately more than a 10-9 rd , but the current system doesn’t account for this.my opinion is there should be 1/2 point rds , eg. really close rd 10-9.5 , close rd but with obvious advantage 10-9 , dominate rd but not fight finishing dominate 10-8.5, dominate rd almost to finishing the fight 10-8. also the judges should be in separate rms watching on monitors ( much better angles to see the action) also they should have access to replay( like we do), judges should have to announce their scores rd by rd ( then the fighters and the fans would know exactly which judger are knowledgable and which are not).these changes would definately help the current problems the sport is having. because no matter what dana says sometimes fights end up in the judges hands . and when people are equally talented it happens a lot