UFC 101 card includes lightweight title fight
The UFC Betting frenzy goes to Phili for UFC 101.
UFC 101: Declaration takes place Saturday at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, with the two best 155-pound fighters in the world clashing in the main event.
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion B.J. Penn will defend his title against number one contender Kenny Florian in the biggest bout of the 10-fight card.
betED.com has Penn a -240 favorite to successfully defend his crown in MMA Betting Odds, while Florian is a +190 underdog.
In the co-feature, the pound-for-pound king of mixed martial arts, middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva, moves up a weight class to 205 pounds to take on former light heavyweight champ and Ultimate Fighter season one winner Forrest Griffin.
Silva is a huge favorite at -400 while Griffin is +300.
Penn (13-5-1) hasn’t fought in more than six months, his last fight a TKO Stoppage loss against welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94 in January. Penn was challenging for St. Pierre’s title and looking to avenge a prior loss, but instead was unable to come out of his corner after four rounds of domination from St. Pierre.
Since that loss, Penn has changed his training and hired Mark Maronivich, the father of former USC standout quarterback, Todd Maronivich, to be his strength and conditioning coach.
Florian (12-3) contested for the UFC lightweight title once before, losing a decision to Sean Sherk for the vacant title in October of 2006.
But since that loss, Florian has been on a six-fight winning streak, with five of the six fights ending by submission or TKO. His last fight was by Submission (Choke) over Joe Stevenson at UFC 91 last November.
UFC 101 starts at 7:30 pm ET Saturday with the main event scheduled for 11:40 pm ET, on Pay Per View.
