Dana White announces two fights for UFC 127 in Australia
On Saturday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship held UFC 123 at the Palace of Auburn Hills outside of Detroit, Michigan. Following the event, UFC president Dana White announced that B.J.
Penn and George Sotiropoulos, two fighters that had been victorious earlier in the evening, had their next fights booked.
Penn and Sotiropoulos will compete in separate bouts at UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia. The Australian fight card is tentatively scheduled for 27 February 2011.
Sotiropoulos, who was born in Australia, told theaustralian.com in July of this year, “I feel like I represent Australia in the UFC. I’d love to get the chance to do my thing in front
of my home fans, but we have to do some work before that can happen.”
With a win via submission over Joe Lauzon at UFC 123, it appears that Sotiropoulos has done enough work. His opponent in Australia will be Denis Siver who is coming off a submission victory
over Andre Winner at UFC 122.
Sotiropoulos will enter the fight in Australia with a UFC record of 7-0 and an overall mixed martial arts record of 14-2. Siver’s MMA record is 17-7, while his UFC record stands at 6-4.
B.J. Penn made short work of UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes during their bout on Saturday night. Penn, fighting at welterweight for the first time since 2009, knocked Hughes out 21 seconds
into the first round.
Penn will fight the highly ranked Jon Fitch at UFC 127. Fitch has won 21 of his last 22 fights, with his only loss during that time coming at the hands of Georges St. Pierre. St. Pierre
took the five-round fight via unanimous decision and retained his welterweight belt with the win.
The winner of the Fitch vs. Penn fight will most likely be on the short list for a shot at the UFC welterweight title, which is currently held by St. Pierre.
Other fights being discussed for the Australian event are Carlos Condit vs. Chris Lytle and Michael Bisping vs. Jorge Rivera.
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