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Jon Fitch practices grappling during an Open Workout at Star City in Sydney this week. UFC
UFC

Un-caged: Sydney says G’Day to UFC again

The Octagon pitches up Down Under in a much-anticipated return to Australia tonight.

THE UFC RETURNS  to Sydney this weekend nearly a year to the day from its last successful outing Down Under. This event sold out in just 30 minutes and has plenty to offer to MMA fans worldwide as fighters representing the USA, Britain and Australia all feature prominently.

The co-main event of the evening sees former two division champion BJ Penn take on the constant welterweight contender John Fitch in a matchup that is very hard to call.

‘The Prodigy’s’ recent form has been patchy. He put to bed back-to-back defeats by Frankie Edgar with an emphatic first-round knockout over an ageing Matt Hughes last time out, and surely a win over Fitch would dispel all the doubters.

A win for Penn however is by no means a certainty. Fitch has fought most of his career at welterweight and BJ has struggled at this weight, previously getting beaten by Matt Hughes and more recently outclassed by GSP. The worry for Penn has to be getting bullied by the naturally bigger man again, and it will be interesting to see if he has learned anything from his previous forays into this division.

British fans will be tuning in to see if Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping can overcome journeyman Jorge Rivera and get back into contention in the middleweight division. After winning season three of The Ultimate Fighter, Bisping was seen as Britain’s shining light in the UFC. He has since lost a split decision with Rashad Evans and then was famously sparked by Dan Henderson, with the lead-up to that fight dominated by the feelings of bad blood between the two.

Echoes of that war of words have surfaced in the lead up to this fight with Rivera producing a number of light-humoured videos on YouTube mocking Bisping in an obvious effort to get under his skin. This is a smart tactic from Rivera as a slugfest would suit him but if Bisping stays calm and focussed on his game plan he should have enough in his locker to see off the Massachusetts native.

Hometown Glory?

With a 7-0 UFC record, two “Fight of the Night” bonuses, and wins by TKO and submissions in his arsenal, it won’t be just the Aussie fans in attendance that will be looking forward to seeing George Sotiropoulos enter the Octagon once more. His opponent, Dennis Siver, also has a number of ‘Fight of the Night’ and ‘Submission of the Night’ awards so this has the making of a cracking bout.

If the fight goes to ground I fancy George to give the fans something to cheer about. Another Australian fighter on the card is TUF season eleven quarter-finalist Kyle Noke who takes on fellow TUF competitor Chris Camozzi as they kick off proceedings on the main card. This fight presents an opportunity for both fighters to cement their place in the UFC as neither has fought on a Pay-Per-View main card before.

Both sport 2-0 records in the UFC and their styles are quite similar so I can see this one going to the judges.  The fans will no doubt get behind Noke and this could give him that slight edge to try and nick the fight.

In the other bout of the night Chris ‘Lights Out’ Lytle takes on Brian Ebersole with the latter taking the fight on two weeks’ notice after Carlos Condit was forced to pull out through injury. While many people will favour Lytle to win this one, Ebersole has constantly proven how durable he is having only been stopped twice in his UFC career. There is no doubt that the late call up will affect Ebersole, and if Lytle can keep the fight on the feet he should be able to get the win.

The live streaming of fights on Facebook seems to be a permanent fixture now and with coverage of the prelims starting at 2am and the main event starting at 3am on ESPN on Saturday night/Sunday morning, some sneaky shut eye beforehand is highly recommended.