I demand that Anderson Silva be tested for the red pill following last evening’s annihilation of Forrest Griffin

Silva vs. anyone at middleweight just got a lot less interesting. The devastating knockout over Michael Bisping sparked a renewed interest in the prospect of Dan Henderson having a realistic chance at dethroning the current UFC middleweight champion, but Bisping is no Anderson Silva. The straight forward aggressive style employed to send “The Count” to dreamland would be disastrous against a striker of Silva’s caliber. I was screaming at the top of my lungs for a Nate Marquardt rematch with Silva, believing the Greg Jackson trained fighter’s much improved tenacity would serve him well a second time around, but Silva took the wind right out of my sails last night in just a few minutes. Demian Maia? Far too one dimensional in my opinion. So the question has to be asked, ‘Has it gotten to a point where there really are no challenges left for Anderson at 185?’.

Is there any possibility of a Silva vs. Machida fight in the future? Silva’s performance last evening established him as a legitimate and immediate threat to the light-heavyweight championship that Lyoto currently wears around his waist. A match made in heaven between two unearthly technical martial artists that seem to verge on invincibility. The best thing about a battle between the pair would be the fact that one man would have to suffer a defeat. A prospect that seems somewhat unimaginable in the near future due to the current state of affairs. Anderson says he’ll never fight Lyoto,and it’s no secret that the two are long-time friends and training partners. Of course Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta have both gone on record recently stating that friendships are irrelevant inside of the Octagon. You’ll face who the UFC tells you to face, and you’ll like it. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out, but here’s to hoping for Machida vs. Silva for the light-heavyweight strap in the near future.

I’m calling shenanigans on Silva and Griffin being awarded the $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus. Fight of the Night? Hardly. More like Beatdown of the Night? Come on folks, I consider a fight to be when it’s at least somewhat competitive, the fight between Silva and Griffin was hardly that. Obviously this was the bout that electrified the crowd more than any other, but it was no fight of the night. I could pick a good four or five fights that I would have awarded the honors before this trouncing, but I’d like to point at the lightweight championship bout between B.J. Penn and Kenny Florian as an example. Two athletes really pushing each other in a hard fought four round title fight. I mean, at least it was a fight, right?

B.J. Penn will rule the 155 pound division for as long as he feels like it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here, the only man that beats Penn at lightweight in the near future is himself. I think many people forget how young B.J. is because he’s been relevant in the game for so long, but the pride of Hilo is still a baby in the sport at a mere thirty years old. A scary prospect for men choosing to make their money in the future fighting at 155 pounds like Diego Sanchez, Gray Maynard, Frankie Edgar and Kenny Florian. Ken-Flo was an extremely deserving challenger to the throne and B.J. just made it look easy. Making it look easy against a guy like Florian is a scary thing. For B.J. it’s always been a motivation thing. I hope continuing to establish his legacy as one of the greatest fighters to have ever lived will be enough to motivate him to compte for another five or ten years.

Did anyone else catch Dana White speak about a free UFC event being planned for October during the post-fight press conference? Can you say “Fedor counter-programming”? Does this come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the UFC’s long history of counter-programming events such as EliteXC and Affliction in the past? It sure shouldn’t. Now the UFC plays the waiting game as you can expect an announcement of the date and location of their October event to come shortly after the announcement of the Strikeforce event planned for the same month. Can we all just get along?

Just know, MMA is not boxing. Sure, Anderson looked spectacular last night while making Griffin look foolish, just don’t assume Silva is somehow on the level of a former boxing champion such as Roy Jones Jr. A fight between the two would be a mismatch under boxing rules. Dana White agreed in a conversation he had with Jones during UFC 101, telling the eight-time, multiple weight class boxing champion that he doesn’t like a Silva vs. Jones boxing match because it’s basically two different worlds. Griffin is a hell of a mixed martial artist but to be on the level that any of the top boxers competing in the sport are, you had to have trained in the sweet science from adolescence. Studying nothing but footwork, using your hips for leverage, head movement, and punching, punching, punching. Non-stop training on how to decimate your opponent with your fists, and fists alone. “The Spider” would do about as well against Jones in a boxing match as Jones would going up against Silva in a mixed martial arts rules bout. Jones knows it too, that’s why he’s licking his chops at the prospect of making an example of Silva in the near future.

Fans are constantly becoming more educated in this beautiful sport of ours. I just figured everyone would be proud to know that an estimated 11,000 people were in attendance to watch the very first prelim bout of the evening at UFC 101. A far cry from the attendance for prelim bouts in the UFC just a year ago.

The current UFC middleweight champion picked up $60,ooo for his knockout of Forrest Griffin in the light-heavyweight division, as well as an additional $60,ooo for fight of the night.

Griffin, who was not present at the post-fight press conference, lost in spectacular fashion to the middleweight champion but was also awarded $60,ooo for his losing effort.

B.J. Penn was awarded the very first submission of the night bonus of his career, taking $60,ooo home to Hilo for his fourth round rear-naked choke of Kenny Florian while defending his lightweight championship.

The Fight of the Night bonus being dished out in the direction of Silva and Griffin came as a surprise considering the bout was more of a one-sided beatdown than a fight.

It appeared as though Kenny Florian may have planned on winning a battle of conditioning against Penn as he utilized the clinch for a small chunk of the three rounds leading up to the fights eventual finish in the fourth. If the gameplan on Florian’s end was to wear Penn down and come on in the later rounds, it failed miserably.

Penn never tired in what ended up being a very closely contested battle, as he turned up the heat and finished off Ken-Flo with a trademark rear-naked choke towards the end of the fourth round.

On Florian’s end, he has nothing to be ashamed of as he absolutely displayed that he deserves to be considered among the very top of his weight class after keeping the fight extremely close before the bout’s eventual conclusion.

Meanwhile, B.J. Penn took one step closer to solidifying himself as the most dominant 155 pound champion in UFC history this evening in Philadelphia in an impressive, hard-fought championship performance.

The bout started out simple enough, with both men sizing the other up, before Silva caught a Griffin low kick and threw the larger man to the canvas. It was all downhill from there for Forrest as he was dropped with a vicious left hook upon being allowed to his feet. Once back to his feet for the third and final time in the first round it became obvious that Silva was playing with the former UFC champ, much like a spider would it’s prey. Seconds later Anderson dropped his hands, a la Roy Jones Jr., and flattened Griffin for the last time with a short, powerful right hand to the chin.

An electrifying performance from an amazing fighter that further serves to ask the question, ‘Is Anderson just on a whole other level?”.

It was a performance that would make eight-time world champion boxer Roy Jones Jr. proud. Of course Jones was in attendance at UFC 101,  and it would be no stretch of the imagination to assume that the boxer’s pesence served to motivate Silva to razzle and dazzle the crowd like he once had before.

It appears as though we may have “The Spider” that we have grown to love back in his old form once again.

Join the staff and your favorite posters tonight in the 5oz's Chat room by clicking the poster above

FiveOuncesOfPain is back to keep all of you mixed martial arts fanatics as up to date as humanly possible on UFC 101 with live play-by-play, updates and a super bad a** chat room for all of you diehards to commune and converse about the event.

UFC 101 will take place this evening, Saturday, August 8 from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The event is set to feature a lightweight championship main event between B.J. Penn and Kenny Florian, and a light-heavyweight contest between Forrest Griffin and Anderson Silva.

To log in to the always fun, and sometimes crazy 5 Oz’s Chat Room, it’s simple, just move your mouse over the UFC 101 event poster on the right, click, and let the shenanigans begin…..

Live results will be kicking off at 8 pm ET (5 pm PT). Thanks for hanging out with us tonight guys!

JESSE LENNOX VS. DANILLO VILLEFORT – Winner: Lennox via TKO (cut) – Round 3

GEORGE ROOP VS. GEORGE SOTIROPOULUS – Winner: Sotiropoulus via submission (kimura) – Round 2

DAN CRAMER VS. MATTHEW RIDDLE – Winner: Riddle via unanimous decision

THALES LEITES VS. ALESSIO SAKARA – Winner: Sakara via split decision

JOHN HOWARD VS. TAMDAN MCCRORY – Winner: Howard via split decision

JOSH NEER VS. KURT PELLEGRINO – Winner: Pellegrino via unanimous decision

RICARDO ALMEIDA VS. KENDALL GROVE – Winner: Almeida via unanimous decision

JOHNNY HENDRICKS VS. AMIR SADOLLAH – Winner: Hendricks via TKO – Round 1

SHANE NELSON VS. AARON RILEY – Winner: Riley via unanimous decision

FORREST GRIFFIN VS. ANDERSON SILVA – Winner: Silva via knockout – Round 1

B.J. PENN VS. KENNY FLORIAN – Winner: Penn via submission – Round 4

Roy Jones Jr.

It has been reported by our good friend Bob Treiger that the eight-time, multiple weight class boxing champion will be taking a day off from his current grueling training camp for his upcoming August 15 battle against Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy to make the trip to UFC 101 to check out what should be a great night of fights. More specifically, the light-heavyweight contest between Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin.

It’s no secret that Jones and Silva have been wanting to get at each other for some time now. First Silva stated that he wished to challenge himself against Jones in boxing match. After UFC President Dana White made it clear that the proposed boxing match would never happen under his watch, Jones offered to face off with Silva in an MMA rules match-up. Again, the UFC shot it down, citing the fact that no man would be able to walk right in and challenge one of their champions as a reason for the bout’s denial. Of course the most recent chapter in the ever-playing out story is the fact that Silva has announced that he has actually inked a deal to box Jones when his current contract with the UFC expires.

It will be interesting to see if the UFC cameras pan to Jones at any point during the Silva vs. Griffin bout, but it sure wouldn’t hurt to let the masses know that a boxer as talented as Roy Jones Jr. has shown a profound interest in the sport.

UFC 101 will be taking place this evening at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

5 Oz’s is here to keep you up to date on all of the latest weigh-in results from UFC 101.

The weigh-ins are taking place at the same arena as tomorrow evening’s event, the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

UFC 101 is set to feature a main event lightweight championship bout between B.J.Penn and Kenny Florian, and a light-heavyweight match-up between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin.

All of the weigh-in results for the event are listed below:

BJ Penn (155) vs. Kenny Florian (155)
Forrest Griffin (205) vs. Anderson Silva (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)
John Howard (169.5) vs. Tamdan McCrory (170)
Alessio Sakara (185.5) vs. Thales Leites (185)
Matt Riddle (170) vs. Dan Cramer (169.5)
George Sotiropoulos (155) vs. George Roop (154)
Danillo Villefort (170.25) vs. Jesse Lennox (171)

The event is set to take place on Saturday night, August 8, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from the Wachovia Center.

UFC 101 will feature a lightweight championship between B.J. Penn and Kenny Florian, and a 205 pound match-up pitting Forrest Griffin up against Anderson Silva as headliners, but I’m here to break down the preliminary portion of the card. If you want to read and chat about the main card, no worries, we’ve got you covered. Just click here.

And don’t forget to come right back to 5 Oz’s on fight night as we will keep you up to date on all of the action through our usual extensive play-by-play updates and breaking news on the event.

Alright, let’s jump right into this….

Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley

The fight that had to happen. A rematch of what has been considered to be one of the worst stoppages in the history of the Octagon, both of these men will have a chance to set the record straight on Saturday night, and further establish that they belong in the ocean with all of the sharks of the UFC’s lightweight division.

While Nelson is coming off of two wins with the UFC following his stint on the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter, Riley desperately needs a victory to stay afloat in the most stacked fighting promotion on the planet.

I expect nothing short of fireworks in this one. Two extremely tough guys with something to prove, fighting for survival, pride and bragging rights. I don’t expect a quick stoppage n this one, but what I do expect is for these guys to surprise the audience and fans at home by going to war over three rounds in what promises to be one of the more entertaining and overlooked fights on the card.

Winner: Riley via Unanimous Decision

Tamdan McCrory vs. John Howard

Great match-up right here. Both men seem to be the goods. Solid welterweights in the UFC, no question about it. The thing that makes this match-up so compelling is the fact that we will be left with one man that belongs in the UFC, and another that perhaps doesn’t.

McCrory has a world of talent. A rangy welterweight with punishing strikes and a solid ground game. He has the tools to give a lot of guys fits at welterweight just based on his freakishly strong 6’4″, 170 pound frame. The only knock on Tamdan at this point is has yet to beat a marquee opponent. During his time with the UFC he has compiled wins over the likes of Pete Spratt, Luke Cummo and most recently, Ryan Madigan. On the other side of that coin “The Barn Cat” has come up short in the Octagon when he has stepped up against the likes of Akihiro Gono and Dustin Hazelett.

Howard’s 11-4 record may not be the most impressive on the outset, but a closer look at his most recent wins lead me to believe he has taken a turn in his career for the better as of late. Winning his last four straight, Howard has picked up victories over a previously undefeated and extremely talented up-and-comer by the name of Charlie Brenneman and a more than capable Chris Wilson along the way.

Another fight featuring two men with something to prove. This one will not disappoint. Expect fireworks.

Winner: McCrory via Split Decision

Thales Leites vs. Alessio Sakara

Thankfully I don’t anticipate any butt-scooting in this match-up between the master of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the Italian born knockout artist.

While Sakara is known for his heavy hands and finishing ability on the feet, it shouldn’t matter. As crazy as it may sound, I feel as if Leites is competent enough on the feet to exchange with Sakara long enough to surprise him with the takedown. From there it should be easy pickings for the decorated submission specialist from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Sakara trains with a great camp in American Top Team, one of the best on this earth, but all of the rolling around with BJJ black belts in the world won’t save you when you have a tapout artist like Leites on top of you. Can you say ‘Submission of the Night’ bonus?

Winner: Leites via Submission (early)

Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer

A couple of TUF vets with a world of potential and microscopic records. On the positive side of things both men are undefeated. However the pair bring a combined total of 3 prior professional bout between them, with Riddle fighting twice and Cramer being fresh off his MMA debut.

At first glance I’m sure you’re asking yourself why. Why is this fight on a legit UFC card and not a “Fight Night” event? I’m right there with you guys, but I do feel this fight will fail to disappoint. Both guys should be fully aware that they need to make a name for themselves, and I fully expect for both to try t use the other as a skyrocket to recognition in the UFC.

These guys match up well so I feel we will end up going to the judges, but don’t think these two aren’t going to put it on the line. Another bout with a ton of potential between to blue-chip prospects.

Winner: Riddle via Unanimous Decision

George Sotiropoulos vs. George Roop

This fight between two submission artists promises to be one of the most electrifying ground battles on the card. Both guys have earned the bulk of their victories by submission, and I don’t anticipate either surprising the other with any unfamiliar submissions.

What I do anticipate is a whole lot of transitioning, guard passing and submission attempts in a very fast paced fight.

Who knows though. How many times have we seen two ground fighters stand-up and bang it out on the feet in the past? I can’t count how many times it’s happened. If neither fighter feels they would be best served taking the action to the canvas we could easily have a kickboxing match with 5 Oz. gloves on our hands. Either way I expect for this fight to be action-packed fun.

Winner: Roop via Split Decision

Jesse Lennox vs. Danillo Villefort

This is basically a WEC fight that has been promoted to the Ultimate Fighting Championship because of the folding of the WEC’s folding of it’s higher weight classes, but don’t think that means that it’s not worthy of the UFC by any stretch of the imagination. Both guys are considered to be among the top prospects currently competing in MMA’s 170 pound division.

Villefort grew up in Brazil where training in Jiu-Jitsu was a part of life. He is the god-son to former UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Lennox is a well versed fighter that has split his victories evenly between submissions ans knockouts. Established as a finisher with a penchant for bringing the pain to his opponents, Lennox has yet to see the scorecards in any of his 11 professional bouts.

Anytime you make your debut in the UFC you have to know you’re in a must-win situation. These two would be foolish to think anything otherwise and I expect them to fight accordingly in yet another prelim bout with the potential to bring the still trickling in crowd to their feet in approval.

Winner: Lennox via TKO

Click here for main card preview, predictions and chat

The event is set to take place this Saturday night, August 8 from the Wachovia Center in Philedalphia, Pennsylvania and will air live on Pay-Per-View.

Come along as I take a closer look at the main card match-ups from this highly anticipated card that features a lightweight championship bout between B.J. Penn and Kenny Florian, and a 205 pound showdown between former UFC light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin and current middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian

The only way B.J. loses this fight is if B.J. beats himself. Not taking anything away from Kenny Florian. The guy’s an absolute stud that has done nothing but impress me more and more with every passing bout. Penn is just a little better in every area.

If they had a straight up submission match, B.J. wins. Boxing? Penn has the edge there too. Florian may have the more technical kicks but the power B.J. carries in his fists at 155 pounds should be able to neutralize that. The wrestling has to go to Penn just based on the fact that he has a history of being nearly impossible to take down. In my mind, no other fighter has the sense of balance in the cage that Penn has. The man is like a cat. His dexterity makes him nearly impossible to drag to the canvas and I can’t imagine Florian will be the guy solve the physical riddle that is B.J. Penn.

Ken-Flo’s best chance in this fight would be to keep this fight on the feet and somehow try to outpoint Penn with kickboxing in the same manner that he did to Roger Huerta. I feel like B.J. is intelligent enough to take the fight to the canvas if the going gets tough, but I don’t think it’s going to get that tough on the feet to begin with.

Penn is just one of those guys. He’s part man, part alien. The only lightweight that will beat him in the next two or three years will be himself. It’s always been like that for the uber-talented pride of Hawaii.

Winner: Penn via Unanimous Decision

Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin

While I don’t expect for this fight to be nearly as boring as Silva’s last two fights, I do expect for Griffin’s exciting and aggressive style to play right into the spider’s web. The UFC made this fight for a reason. They wanted to be absolutely sure they forced Silva to fight this time around, and who better way to insure the middleweight champion entertains the paying fans than matching him up against a very dangerous and much larger Forrest Griffin in a non-title affair.

Griffin has two decisive advantages in this bout: He’s a light heavyweight, and he’s a MASSIVE light-heavyweight. As big as they get for men that compete at 205 pounds. However, it’s not about size alone for Forrest, as he’s displayed in the past against similarly large men such as Quinton Jackson and Mauricio Rua. Size will only get you so far though, and one could never discredit the fact that Griffin is extremely tough, talented and well-rounded.

It’s this combination of factors that should place Silva smack dab in the middle of the toughest fight of his mixed martial arts career. Luckily for Anderson, he’s every bit as gifted as everyone says he is, and the difference in this bout will come down to technicality. I expect for Silva to utilize his clinch game as much as possible. Eventually Griffin will become aggressive and that should be his downfall.

Winner: Silva via TKO

Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks

Let’s be real folks, this card takes a tremendous drop-off in so many ways prior to the previously analyzed bouts. I’v e said it, and I’m done with it. Moving on…… So we have The Ultimate Fighter Season 7 middleweight winner Amir Sadollah with a career record of 1-0 facing off with former Division I wrestling champion Johny Hendricks, who sports a career record of 5-0.

Hendricks will be making his UFC debut at 101 with his last bout being a unanimous decision over Alex Serdyukov at WEC 39 on March 1 of this year, while Sadollah will be fighting for the first time since beating C.B. Dollaway to win the Ultimate Fighter crown back in June of 2008.

This is an incredibly tough fight to call, and a fight I feel comes down to one factor: How is Hendricks’ submission defense. It’s going to be up to him as far as where this fight ends up, and the smart thing would be to take the more experienced kickboxer to the canvas. If Hendricks can avoid an Ultimate Fighter armbar he should be able to grind out a unanimous decision.

Winner: Hendricks via Unanimous Decision

Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida

Grove is a talented guy and his reach makes him extremely dangerous when he uses it like he did in his last fight with Jason Day, but Almeida’s much improved stand-up in his previous victory over the unpredictable Matt Horwich has left me confident that the “The Big Dog” will be able to stay out of danger on the feet. At least long enough to get the fight to the ground where the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt will have a ridiculous advantage in the submission department over Grove.

Look for Almeida to take the top position early in the first after setting up the takedown with his much improved boxing. From there it shouldn’t be long before he takes one of Grove’s extremely long limbs home with him.

Winner: Almeida via Submission

Kurt Pellegrino vs. Josh Neer

This is one of those classic fights you just hate to call. I’d possibly give Pellegrino a slight edge in the wrestling department, Neer an edge in the submission category, and I’d say the striking is a wash. Two very tough lightweights that consistently bring a style in the Octagon that’s impossible not to love. If the two headlining bouts disappoint in the least, this fight is a shoe in for fight of the night.

I really don’t know what to expect in this fight outside of tons of action, and possibly a good amount of bloodshed. I know I can’t predict a draw, that would be insanely lame,but I would if I could get away with it in this instance.

Winner: Josh Neer via Split Decision

Be sure to check back in the coming days as I take a look at the undercard scheduled for UFC 101 which features the likes of Thales Leites, Tamdan McCrory, Alessio Sakara, Matt Riddle and many more.

UFC 101 is slated for August 8 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.

Leites will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss in his championship bid against Anderson Silva at UFC 97 when he faces off with another fellow Brazilian in the heavy handed Sakara, who is fresh off of a head kick knockout of Joe Vedepo at UFC Fight Night 15.

Riley will have his chance to avenge his controversial stoppage loss to Nelson suffered at UFC 96 in this lightweight match up that will surely have a little more than just pride on the line as far as each fighter’s certainty with the UFC goes.

A full list of the bouts scheduled for UFC 101 are listed below:

B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian

Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin

Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks

Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida

Thales Leites vs. Alessio Sakara

Kurt Pellegrino vs. Josh Neer

Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley

Tamdan McCrory vs. John Howard

Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer

George Sotiropoulos vs. Robert Emerson

Jesse Lennox vs. Danillo Villefort

UFC 101 is set to take place at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 8.

Leites recently had a five fight win streak in the UFC brought to a halt in a lackluster championship bid against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 97.

Sakara is looking to break through the .500 mark with the UFC as he has gone 4-4 in his career in the Octagon with his most recent appearance being an impressive head kick knockout over Joe Vedepo at UFC Fight Night 15.

A full list of the bouts expected for UFC 101 are listed below:

B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian (for the UFC lightweight championship)

Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva

Johny Hendricks vs. Amir Sadollah

Ricardo Almeida vs. Kendall Grove

Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellgrino

Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley

John Howard vs. Tamdan McCrory

Thales Leites vs. Alessio Sakara

Dan Cramer vs. Matthew Riddle

Rob Emerson vs. George Sotiropoulos

Jesse Lennox vs. Danillo Villefort

For members of the UFC Fight Club they will be able to purchase tickets beginning May 21, for those fans who receive the UFC newsletter they will be able to purchase tickets starting on May 22 and the general public will be left to fight for the scraps if there is anything left on May 23.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com recently contacted the Wachovia Center to find out if there were any suites available. They are offering suites starting at $3900 and going up to $4050.

The suites hold twelve people and come with four pre-paid parking passes. Also included in the price is food and beer, wine and soda. You have a variety of menus to choose from when it comes to the food.

UFC 101 is being headlined by Kenny Florian and B.J. Penn as they fight for the UFC lightweight championship while former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin will take on reigning middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the night’s co-main event.

Other bouts on the card include Ricardo Almeida vs. Kendall Grove, Johny Hendricks vs. Amir Sadollah, Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pelligrino and up to 6 preliminary fights.

UFC 101 is scheduled to take place in Philadelphia from the Wachovia Center on August 8 and will be co-headlined by a previously announced light heavyweight match up between former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin and current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

The bout with Florian will mark the second title defense of Penn’s current reign as lightweight champion. The Hilo native earned the title by choking out Joe Stevenson in a blood soaked affair at UFC 80. The 155 pound champion followed that victory up with an impressive TKO stoppage over Sean Sherk at UFC 84. Since the dominant performance over Sherk in May of 2008, Penn moved up to welterweight in an unsuccessful attempt to avenge a previous loss to UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.

Florian has earned his shot at the title the old fashioned way, through hard work and a series of beatdowns. After coming up short in his first bid for gold against Sean Sherk in October of 2006, “Ken Flo” has been carving a path of destruction through the lightweight ranks. He has won his last six straight bouts with wins over the likes of Joe Lauzon, Roger Huerta and Joe Stevenson in the mix.

Below is a full list of bouts expected for UFC 101:

B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian

Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin

Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks

Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida

Thales Leites vs. Alessio Sakara

Tamdan McCrory vs. John Howard

Jesse Lennox vs. Danillo Villefort

Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer

George Sotiropoulos vs. Robert Emerson

Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Intheguard.tv was the first to report the match-up based upon statements made by Leites directly to the website.

Leites was awarded a shot at Silva’s middleweight crown after winning five straight fights following a loss in his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann. Leites who is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and possesses some of the best submission skills in all of MMA was a heavy underdog going into his UFC 97 bout with Silva. For the majority of the fight Leites flopped onto his back in an attempt to bring Silva down to the canvas so that he could try and submit him. Leites’ stand-up leaves a lot to be desired especially against an elite striker like Silva. The crowd booed the lack of activity and UFC President Dana White admitted he was embarrassed by the lackluster main event.

Sakara’s ride in the UFC has been a rocky up and down journey that saw him debut as a light heavyweight only to drop down to middleweight. He is currently 4-4 in the octagon and was victorious in his most recent bout against Joe Vedepo at UFC Fight Night 15 back in September of 2008. He landed a head kick that sent Vedepo crashing to the canvas. While his stand-up skills are good his ground skills leave a lot to be desired and if Leites is able to get him down it will only be a matter of time before he is submitted.

The two share one common opponent in Drew McFedries. Sakara lost via first round TKO to McFedries at UFC 65 in November of 2006 while Leites submitted McFedries with a rear naked choke just 1:18 in to their bout at UFC 90 last October.

UFC 101 is scheduled for August 8th and will be held at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although the bout has yet to be announced B.J. Penn will be defending his lightweight championship against Kenny Florian in the main event. In the night’s co-main event former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin will face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the Spider’s second bout at 205lbs.

The event is scheduled to take place at the Wachovia center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 8.

The bout between Silva and Griffin progressed rapidly from being an expected fight to official since earlier this afternoon while the Penn vs. Florian match-up has finally been made official after long being expected for the event.

B.J. Penn will be dropping back down to the 155 pound division after taking a shellacking at the hands of UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre in a bout that was abundant with much talked about post-fight greasing drama. The Hilo based champion will be looking to defend his championship a second consecutive time after capturing the vacant strap in a bout with Joe Stevenson at UFC 80. Penn is widely regarded to be the very best lightweight fighter in the world along with being one of the pound for pound best in the business.

Kenny Florian earned his crack at the 155 pound championship by stringing together six straight wins over some of the best competition the UFC has had to offer since coming up on the losing end of a unanimous decision in a bout that was for the vacant lightweight championship to Sean Sherk in October of 2006. Since that defeat Florian has compiled wins over Roger Huerta, Joe Stevenson, Joe Lauzon and more, and has looked incredibly impressive while doing it.

Anderson Silva is fresh off of his highly scrutinized championship defense against Thales Leites at UFC 97where neither fighter went out of their way to give the crowd their money’s worth. Regardless of his last performance, which was a completely dominant one, Silva has established himself as one of the UFC’s most successful fighters and longest reigning champions.

Griffin will be looking to rebound from his light heavyweight championship defeat to Rashad Evans after taking the strap from Quniton Jackson in a hard fought battle. Griffin’s well roundness and natural size are sure to give Silva a handful of problems he hadn’t encountered in his previous move up to 205 pounds against James Irvin in July of 2008.

According to a report from John Morgan annd Dann Stupp at MMAjunkie.com, Griffin will now face Anderson Silva when the UFC comes east this August at UFC 101. According to the reports, verbal agreements are now in place.

Griffin, who has been out of action since losing his light heavyweight championship to Rashad Evans at UFC 92 in December, is coming off a hand injury that required surgery in which he had pins inserted into his right hand. He was scheduled to take on Thiago Silva who was coming off his first loss at UFC 94 in January to number one contender Lyoto Machida.

Apparently the fight between Griffin is close to being official although Thiago Silva was unaware of the changes made to the card. The source also went on to say that they weren’t sure if Thiago Silva would remain on this card or be moved to another event.

Anderson Silva has been taking a lot of criticism lately for his lackluster performance against Thales Leites at UFC 97 which he won via unanimous decision. He looked disinterested and never tried to finish Leites. Dana White went on record saying he was embarrassed and even went as far to apologize for the poor performance.

Pairing Anderson Silva up with Forrest Griffin may be the UFC’s way of trying to get Silva back on track as he has had two bouts in a row in which he did not look like himself. The first was against Patrick Cote in October of last year at UFC 90. Silva did the same dance and showboat routine as he did against Leites that night against Cote. The fight ended early in the third round when Cote’s knee buckled and he could not continue.

The win over Leites gave Silva two significant records in the UFC as he won his ninth straight fight for the organization and defended the title for a record breaking 5th time. This would mark his second fight as a light heavyweight with the first coming against James Irvin on a UFC Fight Night card last July which was hastily put together so the UFC could counter-program against the inaugural Affliction card. Silva knocked Irvin out just one minute into the first round.

UFC 101 will be held at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is headlined by a lightweight title match between champion B.J. Penn and number one contender Kenny Florian. This will be the first trip east for the UFC since November of 2007 when they held UFC 78 in Newark, New Jersey.

MMAWeekly.com was the first to report the news, which confirmed the rematch with a source close to Nelson’s camp.

Referee Rick Fike declared Nelson the winner via TKO just 44 seconds into the bout soon after Nelson dropped Riley with a punch. Nelson went in for the finish while Riley began to defend himself and Fike inexplicably called a premature stop to the fight.

Nelson’s victory over Riley improved his record to 12-3. The B.J. Penn-trained fighter is a Hawaiian native and prior to the UFC had spent most of his career competing on the Islands. While fighting for promotions just as X-1 and Rumble on the Rock, Nelson posted notable victories over Kaleo Kwan and Harris Sarmiento.

Coming off the heels of a six-fight win streak, Nelson was cast for the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter last January and made it to the final field of 16 after winning a qualifying bout against Charles Diaz. However, he was eliminated following  a loss in the every next round when he was submitted by eventual lightweight show winner Efrain Escudero. He then rebounded during the show’s live season finale on Dec. 13 after recording a split decision victory over George Roop.

Riley made his UFC return at UFC 91 in November and won a unanimous decision against Jorge Gurgel. Currently 27-11-1 overall with a lifetime record of 1-3 inside the Octagon, the 12-year veteran is currently on this third tour of duty with the UFC and has also competed for PRIDE and BodogFIGHT.

UFC 101 is currently scheduled to be headlined by Nelson’s trainer, B.J. Penn, defending the UFC lightweight title against number one contender Kenny Florian.

FightHype.com is reporting that while nothing is official, Almeida will face Kendall Grove at UFC 101 which is scheduled for August 8th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Almeida recently made known his desire to drop down to 170 known after defeating Matt Horwich via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 18 last week. Almeida is 2-1 since returning to action after an almost four year layoff. He has defeated Rob Yundt along with Horwich and lost a unanimous decision to Patrick Cote at UFC 86 which cost him a shot at the middleweight title.

Grove is riding a two fight win streak which includes a split decision victory over the late Evan Tanner at The Ultimate Fighter Finale 7 in June of last year and a resounding 1st round TKO over Canadian Jason Day at UFC 96 in March. That victory came on the heels of UFC president Dana White declaring that the fight with Day may be a make or break situation for the Hawaiian fighter.

UFC 101 will feature a lightweight title match between number one contender Kenny Florian and champion B.J. Penn.

Former light heavyweight champion, Forest Griffin, will be making his return to the octagon for the first time since losing the title to Rashad Evans at UFC 92 when he takes on hard hitting Brazilian, Thiago Silva.

Also rumored for the card is a light heavyweight bout between Brandon Vera and Matt Hammil.

The UFC has added some east coast fighters to the mix as they come back east for the first time since UFC 78 which took place in November of 2007 from Newark, NJ. New Jersey native Kurt Pelligrino will take on Josh Neer and New York college student, Tamdan McCrory, will face off with John Howard.

MMAMania is reporting that the two have not yet signed agreements but that the fight should be announced very soon.

McCrory who made a strong debut at UFC Fight Night 10, where he defeated veteran Pete Spratt by triangle choke. The 20-year old college student is 11-2 overall and 3-2 in the UFC. He recently defeated Ryan Madigan at UFC 96 in March via first round TKO. The lanky welterweight is known as “The Barncat” because he first started training MMA in a barn in Cortland, NY.

Howard is 11—4 overall and made an impressive debut at UFC 94, where he defeated former Team Quest fighter Chris Wilson while earning “Fight of the Night” honors in the process. Howard has also earned his stripes fighting for some regional promotions along the East Coast.

UFC 101 is scheduled to take place August 8 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA. The main event will be a lightweight championship bout between number one contender and champion B.J. Penn. A light heavyweight matchup between former 205 lbs. champion Forrest Griffin and Brazilian Thiago Silva is also believed to scheduled for that night. It was just announced a few days ago that Amir Sadollah will face former WEC fighter Johnny Hendricks and Brandon Vera will face Matt Hamill.

UFC 101 will be the first trip east for the UFC since November of 2007 when the promotion held UFC 78 in Newark, N.J. Even with a lackluster main event of Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping the show sold out completely and fans have been clamoring for the UFC to come back ever since.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com was the first site to confirm with sources close to Hendricks that he has signed and submitted his bout agreement. A source close to Sadollah has indicated that he has verbally agreed to the bout and that a signed and submitted bout agreement is considered a formality.

Sadollah, 1-0, had never fought pro before being selected to compete on the seventh season of TUF. En route to winning the show’s middleweight championship, Sadollah successfully defeated Gerald Harris, Matt Brown, and C.B. Dollaway (twice).

The New York native had been scheduled to fight Nick Catone at UFC 91 in November and UFC Fight Night 17 in February but was forced to withdraw both times due to injury.

No one can accuse the UFC of coddling Sadollah in his return, as Hendricks was an All-American wrestler while at Oklahoma State University and is 5-0 since making his pro MMA debut in September of 2007.

Recently transferred from the WEC’s welterweight division, Hendricks went 2-0 under the WEC banner with wins over Justin Haskins at WEC 37 last December and Alex Serdyukov at WEC 39 in March. Soon after Hendricks’ decision victory over Serdyukov, WEC officials designated the bout as the event’s “Fight of the Night.”

The 25-year old Hendricks joins fellow OSU alum Jake Rosholt as the second member of Ehrhardt’s Team Takedown to make it to the UFC.

UFC 101 will take place at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA at the Wachovia Center. In addtion to Sadollah vs. Hendricks, the event will be headlined by UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn defending his title vs. Kenny Florian. A light heavyweight bout between Forrest Griffin and Thiago Silva is slated for the show as well.