UFC 80 "Rapid Fire": A Preview of the British Fighting Event

On Saturday, January 19, 2008, the Ultimate Fighting Challenge presents UFC 80 "Rapid Fire," coming to you live from the Metro Arena in New Castle, England. The event will go live at 7PM Pacific 10PM Eastern time on PPV for the usual $39.95. Tickets will go on sale to the public on Saturday, November 10^th at 10 am GMT and will range from £35 to £200. You can purchase your tickets online at http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk or http://www.metroradioarena.co.uk/. In the main event you will have BJ "The Prodigy" Penn taking on Joe "Daddy" Stevenson for the interim World Light-Heavyweight championship belt. In the co-main event it will be Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga taking on Fabricio Werdum. This will be a very electrifying card so don't miss out on this action.

BJ "The Prodigy" Penn vs. Joe "Daddy" Stevenson

This match will be the main event of the evening with features the former welterweight champion 11-4-1 BJ "The Prodigy" Penn vs. 32-7 Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. Stevenson is undefeated in the UFC as a lightweight winning his last four fights. Penn's last fight was against Jens Pulver at the Ultimate Fighter Finale where he won with a submission choke. Penn's strengths are strong, stand-up and excellent submissions. This bout will be for the interim title, because the current lightweight champion Sean Sherk was suspended for a year for steroid use. Both fighters are skilled ground grapplers and they will both look to execute their ground games to perfection. Since this match is for the vacant lightweight belt it will be a five round bout instead of the typical three round fights for non title fights. Which ever fighter comes out of this bout with the victory they will to face Sean Sherk when he comes back off suspension to determine who the true lightweight champion is.

Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum

This match will be the co-main event of the evening which features 8-1-0 Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga taking on 9-2-1 Fabricio Werdum. Gonzaga is 4-1 since joining the UFC back at UFC 56 and has a track record for knocking his opponents out in his wins. His strengths include his striking abilities and submissions. Gabriel Gonzaga has his only loss from the hands of the current heavyweight champion Randy "The Natural" Couture at UFC 74 "Respect". Gonzaga is also a very skilled Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt. Fabricio Werdum has only had one fight in the UFC which was at UFC 70 against Andrei Arlovski and Werdum lost in a unanimous decision. Werdum's strengths are his excellent ground game. Werdum isn't a good striker so he will be looking to take this fight to the ground early.

Sources

http://www.ufc.com/