UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch Breakdown

This Saturday, the UFC invades the Land Down Under once again and brings UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch to the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.  In the maiden UFC voyage to Australia, we saw George Sotiropoulos prove his legitimacy in the Lightweight division, Wanderlei Silva battled Michael Bisping to a Unanimous Decision and current Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez knock out MMA legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and earn himself a shot at the title. On this trip, newer talent will be brought out, along with some well-known veterans and three native Aussies.

Let’s take a look at and break them down the UFC 127 Main Card.

The first fight to open the PPV is a TUF 11 reunion as Kyle “KO” Noke (18-4-1) takes on Chris “Kamikaze” Camozzi (14-3). Since signing with the UFC following their season of The Ultimate Fighter, both men have defeated the first two opponents given to them, adding on to their current win streak which now sits at 4-in-a-row for the both. After Camozzi was forced off of the season due to a broken jaw, the two will cross paths once again and somebody’s streak will be snapped. With each man having nearly even amounts of victories by way of KO, Submission and Decision, anything can happen in this fight, and you definitely don’t want to miss it.

The next fight features long-time UFC veteran Chris “Lights Out” Lytle (30-17-5) and MMA veteran “Bad Boy” Brian Ebersole (46-14-1-1). These two men have a lot of experience, having one hundred and twenty-two fights between them. Lytle was originally scheduled to face Carlos Condit, but a knee injury forced him out of the bout and Ebersole was selected as his replacement. Ebersole is riding a seven-fight win streak and coming off a TKO victory over Hamish Robertson in January. Lytle, too, has a nice four-fight win streak going, with his last victory coming in September. Although Lytle is a former boxer, the majority of his wins have come by way of submission, as do Ebersole’s. With thirty-nine submission victories between the two of them, this fight could easily become a grappling match decided by who has the better technique. On the other hand, it could be decided by who gets the better of the striking.

The third fight on the PPV broadcast is a Lightweight bout that includes native Australian, George Sotiropoulos (14-2), taking on Denis “The Menace” Siver (17-7). Sotiropoulos has gone undefeated since signing with the UFC and will, arguably, face his toughest competition to date when he steps in the cage with Siver. Although Siver is highly regarded as the best kickboxer in the division, he also has a Purple Belt in BJJ and recently picked up his ninth submission victory last November when he defeated Andre Winner. Sotiropoulos is definitely no stranger to jiu-jitsu, having eight career submission victories and holds a BJJ Black Belt of his own. Siver’s striking ability and Sotiropoulos’ takedowns may be there respective key’s to victory for either man.

The Co-Main Event of the evening is a Middleweight fight between Michael “The Count” Bisping (20-3) and Jorge “El Conquistador” Rivera (19-7). In the weeks leading up to this fight, Rivera has made numerous online videos taking shots at Bisping and really getting under his skin. At the pre-fight press conference, Bisping had a lot of words for Rivera when they got together for the faceoff for the media. What exactly was said couldn’t be heard, but judging by Bisping’s body language, it couldn’t have been too polite. Both men are known more so for their striking abilities than their grappling with Bisping owning twelve KO victories and Jorge having thirteen. That, in addition to the bad blood that has been cooked up in the past few weeks, will definitely make for an exciting fight. Dana White posted on Twitter this week that he thinks it could definitely be Fight of the Night, and many people agree with him.

The Main Event of the evening is a much-anticipated Welterweight bout that features “The Prodigy” B.J. Penn (16-7-1) facing off against Jon Fitch (20-3-1). Earlier in the month, Dana White announced that the winner of this bout would become the Number One Contender for the Welterweight Championship, a place both men have been before. This fight is a great pairing of styles. Fitch has come to be known as a “lay-and-prey” fighter who takes his opponents down and grinds out a decision. Unlike many of his former opponents, Penn’s grappling is on a whole different level. Fitch will have a difficult time employing his “lay-and-prey” tactics against Penn, but Fitch also has great takedowns and has consistently taken his past opponents down with ease. Consequently, Penn has amazing balance and takedown defense and getting him down will be a tough task. As we saw in his last fight, Penn does have knockout power in his chin, but Fitch has an underrated chin and has only been knocked out once in his career. If Bisping/Rivera doesn’t win Fight of the Night, this fight could definitely take home the honors.

UFC 127 tickets sold out within moments of them going on sale back in December, and sold out faster than UFC 110. In addition to the PPV broadcast, Ross Pearson vs. Spencer Fisher, James Te-Huna vs. Alexander Gustafsson, and Nick Ring vs. Riki Fukuda will be shown on Ion television. Also, Anthony Perosh vs. Tom Blackledge and Maciej Jewtuszko vs. Curt Warburton will be shown on the UFC’s Facebook page.

With over-seas cards in the past, the PPV broadcast has been run on tape delay here in the U.S. Fortunately, due to the time difference, fans will get to see this card live on Saturday night U.S. time as it takes place on Sunday morning in Australia. Start the night by jumping on Facebook at 5PM PT, then move over to IonTV at 6PM PT and, finally, catch the PPV broadcast at 7PM PT.

Tags: BJ Penn, Breakdown, Dana White, Jon Fitch, Jorge Rivera, Michael Bisping, MMA, UFC, UFC 127

Category: Events, Featured, MMA, UFC