UFC 101 Preview: Is BJ Penn Invincible at Lightweight?
Published by Jim Genia on August 5th, 2009 in Current Events

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Is BJ Penn invincible at lightweight? Unless top contender Kenny Florian manages to land a razor-like elbow and score a stoppage via cut, outlasts and outpoints the sometimes disinterested Hawaiian to garner the decision, or Penn somehow slips on a banana peel and knocks himself out, the answer to that question may very well be “yes”. At UFC 101: “Declaration”, the promotion’s first foray into Philadelphia, middleweight god Anderson Silva will move up to light-heavyweight to take on TUF 1 superstar and ex-champ Forrest Griffin, TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah gets his feet wet on a pay-per-view card, and South Jersey studs Ricardo Almeida and Kurt Pellegrino will battle Kendall Grove and Josh Neer, respectively. But the lone championship bout of the night – and the only bout of real relevance – is Florian’s second attempt at securing the 155-pound belt. Can he can wrest it from clutches of someone who hasn’t lost at lightweight since November, 2005?

As dominant lightweights go, none compare to Penn. His only loss in the weight class came at UFC 35 against then-champ Jens Pulver, a close decision that he has since avenged with a rear naked choke exclamation point. To accumulate marks in the “L” column, the heavy-handed jiu-jitsu black belt has had to venture to other divisions, facing the likes of Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre and Lyoto Machida and really only getting dominated once (in his last outing against St. Pierre). With his six-fight win streak since losing a decision to Sean Sherk, Florian is an impressive fighter too, but defeating Alvin Robinson, Joe Lauzon and Roger Huerta is a far cry from tapping out Matt Hughes and crushing Sherk with a flying knee. Regardless of his solid jiu-jitsu and polished Muay Thai skills, Florian is going to attack like a Crusader in the Holy War, and fall when Penn’s invincibility turns his weapons aside.

Silva may have few challengers at middleweight, but at least in the 205-pounder Griffin he has someone who won’t butt scoot himself into oblivion (see: Thales Leites at UFC 97). Griffin rose to stardom with a career-making (and industry-making) TUF finale performance against Stephan Bonnar, won some and lost some, defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and then Quinton Jackson to earn the title, and then lost the belt to Rashad Evans at UFC 92. But in his wins and losses within the Octagon, the likeable ex-cop has proven to be both smart and willing to engage – two traits that mean he either has a shot at doing something to Silva, or he’ll die trying. At this point, with the Brazilian’s talent, ability and sheer dominance, what more can you ask for? Expect Silva to win with a furious TKO, but expect Griffin to at least make it interesting.

After defeating CB Dollaway at the TUF 7 Finale, Sadollah was crowned the Ultimate Fighter, then promptly injured himself and hasn’t seen action since. At UFC 101, a presumably healed Sadollah will taste pay-per-view combat against wrestler and WEC welterweight refugee Johny Hendricks. As Dollaway was a wrestler, and as the formula for TUFer matchmaking has traditionally been to give them exceedingly “winnable” fights their first time out, Sadollah should have little trouble slipping on the submission. Also likely to get the submission is Renzo Gracie-trained Almeida, who matches up well against the lanky TUF 3 winner Grove and should sink the arm-in guillotine the second the Hawaiian lowers his head. Grove’s best hope is to outlast Almeida and pour it on in later rounds, when the jiu-jitsu master tends to putter out. Rounding out the main card is Pellegrino versus Neer. Both men are ace grapplers, with Pellegrino’s wrestling making him better on top and Neer’s polished submission game making him better on the bottom; this one is a toss up, and the loser will be the one who makes the first mistake.

There’s a wealth of talented up-and-comers in the UFC’s lightest division – studs like Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Diego Sanchez – but none are ready to take on Penn, who rules the 155 pounders like an angry and vengeful god. Is Penn invincible? At lightweight he is. And after Saturday night, Florian will agree.