So UFC 126 was just concluded last night, and you're already wondering how the promotion's next card looks like? Well three weeks from now, on Feb 26th, the UFC will head back to an already sold-out Acer Arena in Australia to try and break the records that UFC 110 had previously set for the venue.
UFC 127 will be headlined by a welterweight bout between former two-division champion B.J. Penn, and the #2 ranked welterweight, Jon Fitch. Penn failed to defeat the man who took his lightweight belt, Frankie Edgar, and decided to move up in weight. He had a very impressive performance on his return to 170, viciously knocking out long time champ and UFC Hall-of-Famer, Matt Hughes in just 21 seconds. He will be now be taking on Jon Fitch, a man who has stood near the top of the welterweight ladder for so long, grinding out all comers, and only losing a decision to current champion Georges St. Pierre.
Interestingly enough, Penn has took up the services of Hughes to help him train for another powerhouse wrestler. Penn talked about his preparation on MMA Fight Corner Radio (via Five Knuckles):
"We train really hard. I train three times a day. It's work sometimes, but I try to keep it fun as much as possible. I train three times a day, three days a week, and then Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday I do light physical activity just to flush my body of lactic acid."
"It's going to be really good work. [Hughes] basically made up the whole, 'push the guy to the fence and ground and pound thing,' so I think it'll work out fine... I think Fitch is going to be very surprised when we lock up and grapple. I think he thinks that's going to be the easy part, but he's going to be surprised."
This is a very intriguing match up stylistically, and the stakes are very high, as the winner of this bout will likely become number 1 contender to the welterweight crown currently held by Georges St. Pierre. Check out the entire UFC 127 fight card below.
Main card:
B.J. Penn (16-7-1) +160 vs. Jon Fitch (23-3) -180
Michael Bisping (20-3) -500 vs. Jorge Rivera (19-7) +300
George Sotiropoulos (14-2) -275 vs. Dennis Siver (17-7) +215
Carlos Condit (26-5) -200 vs. Chris Lytle (30-17-5) +160
Kyle Noke (18-4-1) -180 vs. Chris Camozzi (14-3) +150
The rest of the card is after the jump.