Penn-Sanchez: UFC 107 Five Bullet Point Preview

A few weeks ago, UFC 107 felt like cold product, and just another event in what has been a ridiculous amount of MMA events this fall and winter.

But thanks to an outstanding countdown show, Internet buzz, and some weigh-in shenanigans, UFC 107 now feels like a must-see show loaded with competitive matchups.

As you navigate your way through holiday parties and shopping malls this weekend, make sure you put the kids to bed early and nestle up for UFC 107 Saturday night, headlined by Lightweight Champion BJ Penn against the man who bleeds positive thinking and may just cartwheel out of the FedEx Forum if he wins, Diego Sanchez.

Lightweight Champion BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez

While I was disappointed in the head-to-head interview at last weekend's TUF finale, Sanchez's performance in the countdown show was just amazing. If you don't know what the "Yes! Cartwheel " is yet, you need to find out quickly.

Sanchez, a UFC stalwart since April 2005, gets his first shot at the gold Saturday after racking up a 10-2 record in the Octagon in two weight classes. This is his third fight at 155 after decision wins over Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida.

This will be Penn's third defense of the vacant Lightweight title he won at UFC 80 in a bloodbath over Stevenson. He's 4-1 in his last five fights with the only loss being his defeat to GSP at UFC 94.

Since four straight decisions in 2004-05, Penn hasn't gone the distance in six consecutive fights. Sanchez, however, has seen seven of his last 10 fights go to a decision.

Even with Penn looking at his 31st birthday on Sunday, he's looked outstanding since the GSP loss, completely retooling his training in the process. Sanchez is going to be wired Saturday night and you've gotta think that he might be too amped up in his first title shot. Sanchez is good, but Penn is great and will win via third round TKO.

Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo (Heavyweight)

Talk about a fight that heated up this week. If you haven't seen the countdown show yet, please do so on Spike, OnDemand, or on-line. The build for the main event is great, but no fight has benefited from a show like this in a long time.

Mir is still obsessed with Brock Lesnar, so there's a bit of a concern about him potentially looking past Kongo. From the pre-fight weigh-ins, it's obvious that Kongo is pissed. Is he too pissed, aka unfocused on his game plan? This will be a battle of focus!

Kongo (14-5-1) has never been submitted, and doesn't get knocked out. His last three losses have come via decision. Mir has never lost by decision, or submission, and only two of his fights overall have gone the distance.

This is a huge fight for Kongo, as he's up against the biggest name of his career. Coming off a loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 99, Kongo needs to look impressive here to stay in the upper echelon of the division. With a win, you've gotta think he's one more win away from a title shot.

Mir, the former UFC heavyweight champion, will be in action for the first time since losing to Brock Lesnar at UFC 100. He downed a staph-recovering Minotauro Nogueira via second-round TKO at UFC 92, and submitted Lesnar (UFC 81) and Antoni Hardonk (UFC 74) before that, but are we entirely sure what Mir will show up Saturday?

Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida (Lightweight)

Florian (11-4) will be looking for some redemption after being beaten up by Penn at August's UFC 101. In two shots at the Lightweight crown, Florian is 0-2.

Guida is still looking for his first title shot, and will need a win Saturday to help spur him along. One of the most popular fighters in the UFC, Guida has proven that management will keep around fan favorites that put on exciting fights as he's just 5-4 in his Octagon stint.

Before losing to Sanchez in an insane fight in June at the TUF Season Nine finale, Guida was on a three-fight win streak. Regardless, he has been in two-straight Fights Of The Night .

While K-Flo is known for razor-sharp elbow strikes on the ground, four of his last six wins have come via submission. This guy knows the rear-naked choke, so Guida had better be prepared if this goes to the ground.

It's interesting that out of Guida's 25 wins, 12 have come via submission. However, he hasn't finished a guy via submission since he tapped Justin Games at UFC 64 in October 2006.

Paul Buentello vs. Stefan Struve (Heavyweight)

Buentello returns to UFC after a near four-year absence while competing for Strikeforce and Affliction. His last match was a third-round TKO win over Kirill Sidelnikov at Affliction's final event in January.

The 36-year-old Buentello (24-10) has competed for both the UFC and Strikeforce's heavyweight titles in the past with losses in both.

The near seven-foot Struve (18-3) is just 21 years old, but Saturday's fight will be the 22nd in his career.

Despite a background in kickboxing, Struve "hearts" the submission game with 67 percent of his wins coming via tapout. His last seven wins have come via submission and the triangle choke is his weapon of choice.

Buentello can hit and hit hard with 24 T/KOs and hasn't shown a propensity for tapping out, but Struve's reach and height might be too much to overcome. 

Jon Fitch vs. Mike Pierce (Welterweight)

Even though he says he hates decisions, Fitch is Mr. Decision as his last five fights have gone the distance.

Fitch (20-3-0-1) has only lost once in the last seven years, that being a unanimous decision defeat to Welterweight Champion GSP at UFC 87 back in August 2008.

Pierce is the third fighter Fitch has been lined up to fight this winter, as both Ricardo Almeida and Thiago Alves had to bow out due to injuries.

Pierce is on a roll at 9-1, and brings a six-fight win streak into Saturday's fight. He too likes decisions, two straight have gone the distance, and five of his 10 career fights have, overall.

With just four losses between them, and extensive wrestling backgrounds, this has decision written all over it.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio and Mauro Ranallo's The Fight Show. Follow him on Twitter .