UFC card featuring Penn vs. Sherk finalized

April 8, 2008

I know a lot of MMA fans in Hawaii are heading up to Las Vegas on Memorial Day weekend for the fight between BJ Penn and Sean Sherk for the UFC lightweight championship.

I just checked out the UFC website and they have put up the full 11-fight card. It is as follows:

BJ Penn (13-4-1) vs. Sean Sherk (35-2-1)
Wanderlei Silva (31-8-1) vs. Keith Jardine (13-4-1)
Wilson Gouveia (10-4) vs. Goran Reljic (7-0)
Lyoto Machida (12-0) vs. Tito Ortiz (16-5-1)
Thiago Silva (11-0) vs. Antonio Mendes (14-2)
Ivan Salaverry (12-5-1) vs. Rousimar Palhares (0-0)
Rameau Sokoudjou (4-2) vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (11-7)
Terry Etim (10-1) vs. Rob Emerson (9-6-1)
Jon Koppenhaver (6-1) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (9-1)
Jason Tan (5-1) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (9-1-1)
Christian Wellisch (9-2) vs. Shane Carwin (8-0)

Interesting to note that the Sokoudjou vs. Nakamura fight may not be televised. Both of these guys made their names in PRIDE and Sokoudjou was one of the top fighters in 2007 with wins over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (twin brother of UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira) and Ricardo Arona. Nakamura’s 11-7 record isn’t anything to brag about, but when you realize his seven loses are against Rogerio Nogueira (twice), Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett, Shogun Rua and Machida, the guy has been in there with the best.

It’s also worth noting that Christian Wellisch is fighting for the first time since his submission victory over Scott Junk of Kailua last year.

I know I’m a little bias but this is probably the most excited I’ve ever been for a fight card. If you asked me to name two guys I’d want to see fight live the most, it’d be Penn and Silva, no questions asked. Throw in Tito’s possible last fight in the UFC with some solid matchups on the undercard and this should be one heck of a show. Anyone fortunate enough to get to see this live is in for a real treat.

Posted in Fights