UFC 80 promises, like all other UFC events, to be action packed but there are 3 bouts in particular that I am looking forward to…

Kendall Grove vs Jorge Rivera

Kendall Grove is coming off his first loss since his rise to fame and its very important that he comes away with a victory. Every one takes a loss now and again in MMA, its just the way it is. It’s the fight following the loss that shows what the fighter is made of. Some recent examples would be Forest Griffin and of course Chuck Liddell. Kendall is a pretty heavy favorite, which means he is expected to win. If he wants to have any chance of ever being mentioned in the same breath with the top fighters in the world, he has to come back strong in this fight. The odds of a top notch fighter losing 2 in a row are slim. Chuck Liddell and Mrko Cro Cop come to mind but they ARE top notch fighters. They had already established that prior to those losses. I believe this is the biggest fight of Kendall’s career thus far

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabricio Werdum

I always look forward to watching Gonzaga fight. All of us MMA fans had heard of him but few of us had actually seen him prior to the Cro Crop fight. I have to admit that after watching him beat Cro Crop at his own game, I was more than a little worried when Randy Coutoure stepped in with him. He is favored and again, its extremely rare that a top notch fighter loses two in a row. He is coming off a loss and thus I would be shocked if he loses again.

BJ Penn vs Joe Stephenson

It’s hard to not be a Joe Stephenson fan. I always enjoy seeing him win. However, BJ Penn in my opinion is the most highly skilled all around fighter regardless of weight class. Sure he has had his losses, but none were really decisive in my opinion. His loss to Georges St Pierre was close and controversial. He gassed against Matt Hughes and there were rumors that Matt had broken his ribs which kind of makes it hard to breath. Both of those could very easily have been wins. But I think its going to come down to the ground game here. We all know that’s where Joe likes to fight. However the one loss he has had that MMA fans can relate to came against Josh Neer. Josh frustrated Joe by beating him at his own game. I think we will see something very similar. I don’t think Josh Neer is a better ground fighter than Joe Stephenson, I think that it just wasn’t Joes day. It happens. Its MMA. However I do think that BJ Penn is one of the very few fighters who do have a better ground game than Joe Stephenson and that is going to spell big trouble for Joe. Joe’s stand up skills are nothing to take lightly either, but once again BJ is one of the most well rounded fighters in the world. I think for Joe to win he would have come in with a Randy Couture like fight plan, but I just don’t think that’s going to happen.

In any event, UFC 80 promises to be a great event

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