UFC 107: Nightmare’s End, Prodigy on the Mend

BJ Penn powers past Diego Sanchez

(Photo from sherdog.com)

Apparently, BJ Penn has gotten over the humiliating defeat he suffered at the hands of Georges St. Pierre almost a year ago. Penn has accepted the fact that he is a natural lightweight and that the super fight with St. Pierre at welterweight was at a distinct disadvantage to him and he better put up stakes exclusively at 155 pounds.

In UFC 107, Penn legitimized his stranglehold with a just-as-dominant win over Diego Sanchez, the same way St. Pierre put Penn in his place in UFC 94.

Just when Jo Rogan finished saying: “Freddie Roach once said that B.J. Penn has the best boxing in MMA,” Penn knocked down Sanchez with an overhand right to the jaw in 4:33 of the first round. Sanchez got up quickly, but Penn had him in a muay Thai plum and kneed him on his mean-face contest-winning mug for another fall. With his left arm around Sanchez’s waist, Penn pummeled Sanchez with fists while “Nightmare’ stayed semi-conscious on all fours probably thinking to himself the punishment he was undergoing wasn’t for real – that it was just a terrible dream he was to wake up from.

Sanchez rolled and sought a full guard with his back to the ground. Penn was too smart to get caught in a guard, and too frenzied to knock Sanchez out. Penn stepped to Sanchez’s left and kept striking. Penn wanted to get side control but Sanchez’s butterfly prevented him.

At 4:01, the two fighters found themselves on the fence in a north-south position. Sanchez pushed with both feet on the fence while trying to escape, but Penn pushed him back. Sanchez was able to get back on his feet at 3:43 when Penn let go of his hold as he went for punches to the head of Sanchez, who seemingly did not sustain much damage despite the barrage of blows.

Penn got back to stalking Sanchez. The challenger’s left roundhouse kick missed Penn by at least a foot, proving that he hadn’t fully recovered yet.

At 2:54, Sanchez rushed Penn with hand strikes and a half-assed flying knee, pushing the champion to the fence, getting hold of his right leg but was unable to take Penn down. They disengaged as Sanchez landed a left elbow on Penn’s head.

The rest of the first round had Sanchez surviving, but not before getting hit with another right to the head before the bell rang.

Rounds 2 to the fateful 5 was more of the same, as Sanchez was intent on getting a takedown and perhaps grounding and pounding or submitting Penn with a choke or armbar or something. Something is the right word for Sanchez, because that’s all he could hope for as Penn clearly showed his superiority.

A kick to the head of Sanchez inside the last three minutes of Round 5 produced an obscenely huge cut on the left side of Sanchez’s forehead. It was a good thing referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the beating that Penn was dealing Sanchez to have the latter’s wound checked by the ring doctor who decided Sanchez had enough for the night. Penn by TKO in the 5th.

Mir vs. Kongo

In the undercard, Cheick Kongo paid dearly by keeping his hands down as he ate a left overhand punch to the right jaw that dropped him in only 4:18 of the first round. Mir followed Kongo to the ground where the French kickboxer hit Mir on the rib with a rather weak shin kick followed by a right single-leg takedown attempt.

Mir missed with two hooks but trapped Kongo’s neck in a guillotine choke in a half guard. Kongo got back on his feet, but Mir took him down to the ground holding on tight while falling on his back. Referee Herb Dean lifted Kongo's right arm which went limp as he called a stop to the fight at 3:49 of the round.

Other results:
Jon Fitch over Mike Pierce via Unanimous Decision in 3 rounds; Kenny Florian over Clay Guida, Submission (choke) R2 (2:19); Stefan Struve over Paul Buentello, Majority Decision 3R; Alan Belcher over Wilson Gouveia, Technical Knockout, R1 (3:03); Matt Wiman over Shane Nelson, UD 3R; Johny Hendricks over Ricardo Funch, UD, 3R; Rousimar Palhares over Lucio Linhares, Submission (leglock), 2R (3:21); DaMarques Johnson over Edgar Garcia, Submission (choke) 1R (4:03); TJ Grant over Kevin Burns, TKO, 1R (1:57).