UFC 107 Preview: BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez

UFC Lightweight Champion "The Prodigy" BJ Penn (14-5-1, 10-4-1 UFC) vs. Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez (23-2-0, 10-2-0)

The Story So Far

After just two wins in the UFC Lightweight Division, "The Other Original Ultimate Fighter" Diego Sanchez gets an express trip to a title shot against BJ Penn.

All the standard promotional lines and angles that apply each time BJ Penn defends his title are being rolled out for this fight as well.

Sanchez will push the pace, test his cardio, and is the most serious threat to take Penn's belt that he's faced thus far, just as Kenny Florian and Sean Sherk were before him.

Conventional Wisdom

Everything being said about Diego Sanchez leading up to this fight is true.

He has outstanding cardio and belief in his abilities, a great wrestling base and ever-improving jiu jitsu under Saulo Ribeiro. Fighting at lightweight is probably a better fit for him than competing at welterweight and he's looked great in his two outings at 155.

While the torch always has to be passed at some point, BJ Penn doesn't seem very interested in making any hand-offs just yet.

For all the knocks on his conditioning over his career, Penn has never had a problem when fighting at his natural weight. He looked as fresh in the fourth round against Kenny Florian as he did when they met in the center of the cage to begin the fight, and has brought his new conditioning guru Marv Marinovich with him to Hilo in preparation for this fight.

WKR Analysis

Diego Sanchez hails from somewhere a little south of normal. All the confirmation you need can be found by watching "The Yes Cartwheel."

But if it feels like we've heard all the reasons Sanchez will be a very difficult challenge for the reigning and defending lightweight champion, it's because we have.

Kenny Florian was supposed to push the pace and wear Penn down, but just the opposite happened. It was Florian who rank out of stem, while Penn looked just a fresh finishing him off in Round 4 as he did when they stood eyeball-to-eyeball and didn't touch gloves.

As relentless as Sanchez certainly is, he failed to put away Clay Guida in their epic brawl earlier this year and went to the cards with Joe Stevenson in his lightweight debut. Finishing Guida is no easy task, but while Sanchez couldn't put away Stevenson in their boxing match at UFC 95, Penn left him a bloody and beaten mess en route to claiming the title he defends for a third time Saturday.

Additionally, Sanchez' toughest tests to date are losses to Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck, as well as wins at 170 over Nick Diaz, Karo "Painkiller" Parisyan (too soon?) and Joe Riggs.

BJ Penn has held titles in two divisions, fought the likes of Matt Hughes, Georges St-Pierre and Lyoto Machida, and has beaten everyone who has ever stood across from him at 155 pounds.

Fun Facts

These two should actually have a close bond thanks to Georges St-Pierre.

Clearly Penn's arch enemy, the Canadian welterweight champion is also the reason Sanchez ended up parting company with former training Greg Jackson, leaving his hometown camp for San Diego when it became apparent that GSP was the welterweight in Albuquerque who was getting the stronger push.