UFC
UFC announces B.J. Penn vs. Jon Fitch 2, Sotiropoulos vs. Dunham for UFC 132 in Las Vegas
Mar 17, 2011 - 8:58:20 AM UFC announces B.J. Penn vs. Jon Fitch 2, Sotiropoulos vs. Dunham for UFC 132 in Las Vegas

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC has announced two new bouts for UFC 132 on July 2 in Las Vegas, and one of them is a potential headliner.

B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch met at UFC 127 in Australia in February, fighting to a draw in a highly competitive and mostly exciting headlining tilt, and now they'll have a chance to do it all again when they meet on this card.

Penn took the fight to Fitch at the opening of the fight, bringing an unexpected offensive wrestling strategy to the bout and taking Fitch down and getting his back in the first round. He again took his back in the second after getting him down, but Fitch reversed him and spent the final minute on top utilizing his ground and pound game, making the second the most closely contested.

The third was all Fitch, as he took Penn down, spending the remainder of the round delivering punishment and keeping Penn on his back. Ultimately, two judges gave Penn the first two rounds, while giving Fitch the final round 10-8, leading to the draw and the desire to see more rounds between the two, and that's just what we'll get on July 2.

Also announced is an exciting lightweight bout between George Sotiropoulos and Evan Dunham. Both entered 2011 with high accolades and expectations for making a run towards a title shot, but both were derailed in their first fights of the year.

First up was Dunham, who looked to rebound from a split decision loss to Sean Sherk that many felt he should have won when he took on Melvin Guillard at UFC Fight for the Troops 2. Unfortunately for him, Guillard made a point to let everyone know he was the one in that fight to look out for this year, smashing Dunham in the first round.

Then Sotiropoulos took on Dennis Siver in front of a hometown crowd in Australia at UFC 127, and in a fight where he was a massive favorite with most everyone expecting him to pick up his eighth straight win in the Octagon, he was upset and dropped a decision to Siver. Sotiropoulos was picked apart on the feet for much of the fight while failing to take Siver to the ground, and he suffered his first loss in the UFC.

UFC 132 is expected to air live on pay-per-view on July 2 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Penick's Analysis: Fitch vs. Penn 2 was expected after the anti-climactic end to their first fight, but what will be interesting is seeing how things play out with Georges St. Pierre. If the UFC wants to see St. Pierre move up to meet Anderson Silva should he beat Jake Shields next month, and he leaves the division, this fight could be given an extra two rounds with a vacant title at stake. I doubt the UFC would make this the headliner of a Las Vegas card without a title on the line, and even then I don't see this being a title fight. I think it might be likely that we'd see the winner of this weekend's title bout between Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Jon Jones defending their title on this card, provided they aren't injured, and the UFC could even go with Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami on this card if St. Pierre is going to need time to put on the weight. Either way, some things need to happen over the next couple of months before we get a clearer picture of how this card will look.

[B.J. Penn art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch Editor-in-Chief]