Friday, August 07, 2009
by Brian Knapp (bknapp@sherdog.com) (Photos by Dave Mandel)
18978
Lightweight champion B.J. Penn and his would-be successor, Kenny Florian, have cleared their final hurdle without incident.
Penn tipped the scales at 155 pounds for his showdown with Florian (155) in the UFC 101 “Declaration” main event on Saturday at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. The 20 other men lined up to compete -- including reigning middleweight king Anderson Silva (205) and former light heavyweight titleholder Forrest Griffin (205) -- also made weight successfully at Friday’s official weigh-in.
The 30-year-old Penn (13-5-1) last appeared at UFC 94 in January, when he succumbed to a fourth-round technical knockout against welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre in Las Vegas. Still regarded as one of the world’s top pound-for-pound fighters, Penn returned to the lightweight division in 2007 and rattled off three consecutive victories -- two by submission, another by TKO -- against Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson and Sean Sherk. He also holds victories against Caol Uno, Renzo Gracie, Takanori Gomi and former UFC welterweight titleholders Matt Hughes and Matt Serra.
Based out of the Florian Martial Arts Center in Massachusetts, the 32-year-old Florian has won six fights in a row since he dropped a hard-fought decision to Sherk in a 2006 bout for the then vacant lightweight title. Florian (11-3) has not competed since he submitted Stevenson with a first-round rear-naked choke at UFC 91 in November. He has finished five of his past six foes and owns wins against Roger Huerta, Joe Lauzon and Dokonjonosuke Mishima.
Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
Silva and Griffin weighed 205.
UFC 101 “Declaration” Weigh-In Results
B.J. Penn (155) vs. Kenny Florian (155)
Anderson Silva (205) vs. Forrest Griffin (205)
Amir Sadollah (166.5) vs. Johny Hendricks (171)
Kendall Grove (185.5) vs. Ricardo Almeida (185)
Kurt Pellegrino (154.5) vs. Josh Neer (155.5)
Shane Nelson (156) vs. Aaron Riley (154)
Tamdan McCrory (170) vs. John Howard (169.5)
Thales Leites (185) vs. Alessio Sakara (185.5)
Matt Riddle (170) vs. Dan Cramer (169.5)
George Sotiropoulos (155) vs. George Roop (154)
Jesse Lennox (171) vs. Danillo Villefort (170.25)
