UFC 80

UFC 80, which takes place at the Metroradio Arena in Newcastle, England, airs both live (at 3 p.m. ET) and on tape delay (at 10 p.m.) on pay-per-view this Saturday. Full UFC 80 Results will be available immediately after I watch the fights

If you're looking for a bit of a UFC 80 primer, UFC 80 Countdown is being shown tonight on Spike TV (at 11:00pm ET and again Saturday at 2:00pm ET).

Here is the UFC 80 fight card:

• B.J. Penn vs Joe Stevenson (main event lightweight title fight)
  
• Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabricio Werdum
  
• Marcus Davis vs Jess Liaudin
  
• Kendall Grove vs Jorge Rivera
  
• Jason Lambert vs Wilson Gouveia
  
• Antoni Hardonk vs Colin Robinson
  
• Paul Kelly vs Paul Taylor
  
• James Lee vs Alessio Sakara
  
• Per Eklund vs Sam Stout
  

Don't forget, UFC 80 Results will be here on fight night (after the fights of course).

UFC 80 Results are after the jump. Continue reading "UFC 80 Results" »

All fighters made weight and if the BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson weight in results are any indication (both coming in two pounds lighter than the required 156 lbs) then we are in for a great fight tonight (this afternoon). UFC 80 is being held in England, so we will see it here at 3pm ET and then replayed again at the UFC's more traditional timeslot of 10:00pm. We'll post the UFC 80 results following the 3pm show.

B.J. Penn (154) vs. Joe Stevenson (154) — for vacant lightweight title
Gabriel Gonzaga (255) vs. Fabricio Werdum (247)
Marcus Davis (169) vs. Jess Liaudin (170)
Wilson Gouveia (205) vs. Jason Lambert (204)
Kendall Grove (186) vs. Jorge Rivera (185)
Antoni Hardonk (244) vs. Colin Robinson (238)
Paul Kelly (170) vs. Paul Taylor (170)
James Lee (206) vs. Alessio Sakara (206)
Per Eklund (155) vs. Sam Stout (155)

Here are my UFC 80 Predictions. UFC 80 Will be held in England on January 19th, 2007. Once you're done reading these, bookmark the site and come back on fight night (or the next day) for UFC 80 Results.

BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson
I believe that Joe Stevenson is probably in the top 5 in the UFC lightweight division, I can even give him top 3, but I don't believe he's as good as BJ Penn. The UFC lightweight division rankings (according to me) goes like this:

1&2) BJ Penn and Sean Sherk
Joe Stevenson
Kenny Florian
Hermes Franca
Spencer Fisher
...
So, I'm picking BJ Penn. I believe he has better standup and better BJJ. If Stevenson hopes to win this fight then he'd better have better wrestling than BJ and be able to hold him down for 5 rounds.

UFC 80 Prediction : BJ Penn

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabricio Werdum
If you'd like my favourite to win this fight, it's easily Gabriel Gonzaga. His last two outings were spectacular, both in victory (over Mirko Cro Cop) and in defeat (against Randy Couture). Werdum is definitely not one of my favourite fighters, but is still a very solid heavyweight.

UFC 80 Prediction : Gabriel Gonzaga

Sam Stout vs Per Eklund
Sam Stout has been in bigger fights and has better striking with good takedown defense.

UFC 80 Prediction : Sam Stout

Kendall Grove vs Jorge Rivera
With Kendall having lost his last bout to Patrick Cote I expect a much more focused and better Kendall Grove to show up. I expect this one to end early.

UFC 80 Prediction : Kendall Grove

Alessio Sakara vs James Lee
In theory Sakara should make a good fight of this (he's fought the better competition so far), but Lee has the better record in big fights (and overall). I'm going to go against the grain and pick Lee in this match.

UFC 80 Prediction : James Lee

The rest of my UFC 80 Predictions will be posted soon...

Marcus Davis vs Jess Liaudin
Marcus Davis has a better record against better fighters and should be a no-brainer to win this fight. If there is something that Liaudin has in his favour it is home field advantage and he's fought at the last two UFC's in Europe.

UFC 80 Prediction : Marcus Davis

Jason Lambert vs Wilson Gouveia
Jason Lambert holds victories over tough competition like Terry Martin, Renato Sobral and Marvin Eastman. Wilson Gouveia does not have such an impressive resume, but is coming off a three fight win streak.

UFC 80 Prediction : Jason Lambert

Antoni Hardonk vs Colin Robinson
Antoni Hardonk is still looking to find his way in MMA. He has an outstanding standup game, but needs work elsewhere. That said, Colin Robinson might be just the ticket. He is also a good standup fighter posting most of his victories by TKO or KO. Although the record favours Robinson, the opposition favours Hardonk.

UFC 80 Prediction : Antoni Hardonk.

Paul Taylor vs Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly is undefeated and I'm picking him to keep his streak alive.

UFC 80 Prediction : Paul Kelly

That's it, my complete UFC 80 Predictions. Come back here for UFC 80 Results!

With UFC 79 behind us (one of the best cards that I can remember) it's time to look forward to UFC 80. UFC 80 will once again be held across the pond on January 19th (lucky guys) and will feature a lightweight title matchup between BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson. I'll post my UFC 80 predictions today or tomorrow.

Main Event

• BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson ( UFC Lightweight Championship )
  

Televised portion

• Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabricio Werdum
  
• Marcus Davis vs Jess Liaudin
  
• Jason Lambert vs Wilson Gouveia
  
• Kendall Grove vs Jorge Rivera
  

May not be broadcast portion:

• Antoni Hardonk vs Colin Robinson
  
• Paul Taylor vs Paul Kelly
  
• Alessio Sakara vs James Lee
  
• Sam Stout vs Per Eklund
  

UFC 80 Predictions will be posted soon and UFC 80 Results will be available on fight night.

Here is the current information that we have on the UFC 80 fight card. It is worth noting that UFC.com has reported that the BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson fight will now be a full title match as the UFC has stripped Sean Sherk of his title following his positive steroid test and subsequent hearing with the CSAC.

Note: Sherk's suspension will be lifted in January, so he would in theory be available to fight the winner of this bout, in fact Dana White says that he will have the first match against the new lightweight champion.

UFC 80 Fight Card

• BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson (lightweight title bout - 155lbs)
  
• Wilson Gouveia vs Jason Lambert (205lbs)
  
• Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabricio Werdum (heavyweight)
  
• Per Eklund vs Sam Stout (155lbs)
  
• James Lee vs Alessio Sakara (205lbs)
  
• Paul Kelly vs Paul Taylor
  

Sometimes I get the feeling that every MMA site on the net just reports the exact same news, so I end up not reporting stuff which I should. The status of Sean Sherk and the fallout of the steroid sentence is one of these stories.

The bottom line is that the CSAC (California State Athletic Commision) reduced Sherk's suspension to 6 months from one year. This means that Sherk would be eligable to fight again in January of 2008 (next month). Of course we know that BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson are scheduled to have a UFC lightweight interm title bout in January.

Now, I've heard that Sherk got stripped of his title (can't remember where I heard this), but that the bout between BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson hasn't been upgraded to a full title bout. I have to believe that if the UFC has indeed stripped Sherk that they would make BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson a title match, then give Sherk an immediate bout against the winner.

The BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson bout will be held at UFC 80 across the pond.

I'll let you know if anything changes.

A little searching shows that the UFC 80 fight card will be shown on pay per view and not on Spike TV. This news from mmajunkie.com.

Here is what we know of the UFC 80 fight card so far:

BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson (interim lightweight title bout)

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabricio Werdum
Marcus Davis vs Jess Liaudin
Kendall Grove vs Jorge Rivera

We'll have UFC 80 Predictions as well as UFC 80 Results right here at UFC Results.

There are a number of UFC events on the horizon. Of course the one everybody is waiting for is UFC 79 where Matt Hughes will take on Georges St Pierre for the third time and for me it doesn't get any better than Wanderlei Silva stepping into the Octagon against Chuck Liddell.

There are a few good UFC events to watch in the upcoming two months:

UFC best of 2007 (December 4th on Spike)
Ultimate Fighter Finale (December 8th on Spike)
- Featuring Clay Guida vs Roger Huerta (and Ultimate Fighter finals)
UFC 79 (December 29th on PPV)
- Featuring Chuck Liddell vs Wanerlei Silva and Matt Hughes vs Georges St Pierre
UFC Fight Night (January 23rd on Spike)
UFC 80 (January 19th on ? (in England, possibly Spike?)
- Featuring BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson
UFC 81 (February 2nd on PPV)
- Featuring Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir

The best of 2007 is sure to be a hit with UFC fans and it will of course be free on Spike TV.

December 8th will showcase some of the best two fighters in the 155lb division. Clay Guida and Roger Huerta are two fighters who "bring it" every time they step into the cage. I don't care where this fight goes, it will be exciting.

What more can I say about the December 29th card. If you are going to order one UFC PPV this year, then order this card. The two co main event bouts will be spectacular and the card is stacked from end to end. What a nice late Christmas present from the UFC to the fans...if only it was free too.

On January 19th the UFC lightweight picture becomes a bit clearer as BJ Penn (one of my all time favorites) takes on Joe Stevenson. These are two submission masters, but I think the difference here may be experience...BJ Penn is good everywhere and he's made of rubber. I like Joe Stevenson, but I just don't see any position where he has an advantage over Penn.

On January 23rd, 2008 Corey Hill will once again step into the Octagon. If you watched the 155lb season of the Ultimate Fighter you will definitely remember hill. After all, how many 155lb fighters walk around at 6 feet 4 inches?

Despite his inexperience, Hill had good showings during the show with a victory over Rob Emerson and a loss to eventual winner Nate Diaz.

Hill brings a good amatuer wrestling background and (of course) a decisive reach advantage into every fight.

Gray Maynard will also be fighting on January 23d. Maynard had a good showing and was an early favorite to take the season.

On February 2nd we get to find out two things.
1) Is Frank Mir going to make another run at the UFC heavyweight title?
2) Is Brock Lesnar for real?

Of course, UFC Results will have the full event results here.

UFC 80 : Rapid Fire has been announced and will take place in Newcastle England. The card will feature an interim title match between BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson. Also on the card is a bout between top heavyweight contenders Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga and Fabricio Werdum. Both of these guys lost their last bout (Napao lost to Randy Couture, while Werdum lost to Andrei Arlovski).

Other confirmed fights on the UFC 80 card:

Marcus Davis vs Jess Liaudin at welterweight.

Come back here for more information on the UFC 80 and UFC 81 fight cards as we get it. Also don't forget to return to UFC Results for live UFC 78 Results

Former WWE superstar Brock Lensar will make his UFC debut against none other than former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. This is a dangerous fight for both fighters. With Lesnar, new to the UFC and only his second professional MMA bout, Mir could expose the former amatuer wrestling standout...or validate him.

Frank Mir is a submission master and probably best known for breaking former UFC champion Tim Sylvia's arm. Mir had a devestating motorcycle accident and has been struggling ever since to get his UFC career back on track. A win against a big name (and big guy) like Lesnar would certainly put Mir back into the title picture.

Superbowl Saturday...I can't wait.

It looks like UFC 80 in January 2008 will feature a bout between BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson for an interim lightweight title. The UFC will not strip Sean Sherk of his title, instead opting to make the logical fight between the #2 and #3 lightweight fighters, then have the winner fight Sherk when Sherk's fight with the California State Athletic Commision is over with.

Sean Sherk tested positive for banned substances following his lightweight title fight against Hermes Franca. Franca also tested positive.