B.J. Penn vs Jon Fitch UFC 127 Preview

Welterweights BJ Penn and Jon Fitch headline UFC 127 at the Acre Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Jon Fitch is the UFC 127 odds favorite at -200 while B.J. Penn is +160 with both of these fighters looking to make a case as the next challenger for the welterweight title.

B.J. Penn (12-6-1 UFC) is a UFC legend being one of only two fighters to hold titles in two different divisions. However, he only has two wins at welterweight both coming against Matt Hughes and hasn’t won two fights in a row since 2009.

Penn returns to welterweight competition after failing to find an answer for the current lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in two tries.

Penn’s last fight was the dismantling of Hughes last November. It took Penn just 21 seconds to win the rubber match by KO.

Jon Fitch (13-1 UFC) has looked pretty impressive since his loss to Georges St. Pierre winning five straight fights looking like a future champion.

Fitch is a very dangerous wrestler so don’t be surprised to see him try to get this fight to the ground where Penn’s striking advantage isn’t so pronounced.

The winner of this fight will likely be first in line for Georges St. Pierre, but the consensus is that GSP will fight Anderson Silva in a catch weight super fight if he gets by Jake Shields, so don’t be surprised to see the winner in the octagon again before sharing it with GSP.

The biggest problem with Fitch is that he is a boring fighter. His last eight fights have gone the distance and B.J. Penn has struggled with his conditioning. If he continues to struggle, this should go to Fitch who knows how to stay out of trouble and do just enough to win.

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Jon Fitch and BJ Penn Pre-Fight Interviews

Jon Fitch and BJ Penn headline UFC 127 in the UFC’s second foray in to Australia at the Acer Arena in Sydney, NSW.

Jon Fitch is looking to not just beat BJ Penn, but finish him. He says in the interview that he plans to keep the pressure up on Penn and focus on fighting his fight rather than reacting to BJ.

 

BJ Penn is looking to finish Fitch early. He says he thinks Fitch’s camp will advise him to survive the first round and then go after Penn in the second. He does not plan on dragging the fight out because why wait when you can do in the first round exactly the same thing you can do in the second.

 

The UFC lines at betED have Fitch as the favorite at -200 while Penn is +160.

If both fighters go at each other the way they say they will, this could be a really great fight particularly if it lasts a bit.

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UFC 118 Preview Video: Edgar-Penn, Couture-Toney

UFC 118 goes August 28 in Boston with BJ Penn getting a shot to take back the lightweight title in a rematch with Frankie Edgar and MMA legend Randy Couture defending the sport against champion boxer James Toney.

BJ Penn is the UFC 118 Odds heavy favorite at -325, but it is a sport with lots of upsets and Frankie Edgar could quite conceivably win and make some people a lot of money at +250.

Oddsmakers don’t seem to think Toney will be able to take Couture with Toney paying +400 to Couture’s -600. Toney will no doubt have trouble countering all of the moves that he has never seen before that Couture will throw at him, but all he needs is one punch to win which makes him an interesting bet at that price.