Linhares (13-4) has won five-straight, includes wins over Karl Amoussou and Sean Salmon, as well as a first-round submission of ZayatsMikhail Zayats at M-1: Breakthrough last month.

Palhares (9-2) is 2-1 since debuting with the UFC last year, defeating Ivan Salaverry and, most-recently in January, Jeremy Horn, while suffering a loss to Dan Henderson last September.

According to InTheGuard.tv, Sakara was forced off the card due to a “documentation” issue.

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Pictured: Lucio Linhares

The fight between Sakara and Palhares was originally scheduled to take place at UFC 99 in June, then was shifted to UFC 101 on August 8. An broken leg forced Palhares out of the fight, while Sakara remained on the card, defeating Thales Leites by split decision.

Sakara (12-7) is 2-1 since dropping down to middleweight last year, losing his 185-pound debut to Chris Leben before picking up back-to-back wins over Joe Vedepo and Leites.

Palhares (9-2) is 2-1 since debuting with the UFC last year, defeating Ivan Salaverry and, most-recently in January, Jeremy Horn, while suffering a loss to Dan Henderson last September.

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Pictured: Alessio Sakara

After stunning Florian several times over the first three rounds and stifling the challenger’s takedown attempts, Penn got a takedown of his own before taking Florian’s back. After softening him with kicks to the body, Penn secured a rear naked choke and Florian was forced to submit 3:54 into the fourth frame.

Penn (14-5-1) rebounds from a January welterweight loss to champion Georges St-Pierre by winning his fourth-straight fight at 155-pounds, while the loss for Florian (11-4), his first in nearly three-years, snaps a six-fight winning streak.

In the UFC 101 co-headliner, UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva returned to the light heavyweight division and silenced his critics, following up back-to-back lackluster wins with a first-round knckout of former 205-pound champ Forrest Griffin.

After an aggressive start by Griffin that saw him miss with a head kick attempt, Silva tagged Forrest with punches, sending him to the canvas twice, and taunted him to attack, leaving his hands at his waist. As Griffin again pressed forward Silva backpeddled, but connected with a compact right that sent Forrest to the canvas for a third and final time as the referee immediately stepped in and stopped the fight.

Knocked unconscious by the awkward-yet-powerful punch, Griffin quickly returned to his feet and ran out of the Octagon while Silva celebrated his return to form. “The Spider” (25-4) extends his win streak to 11-straight overall, including 10-straight UFC victories, while Griffin (16-6) has now lost two-straight.

In other main card action, Aaron Riley, Ricardo Almeida, and Kurt Pellegrino all picked up unanimous decision wins, while Johny Hendricks knocked out Amir Sadollah in just 29-seconds in a controversial stoppage.

The complete results for UFC 101 were:

• B.J. Penn (c) def. Kenny Florian via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 4, 3:54
  UFC Lightweight Championship
• Anderson Silva def. Forrest Griffin via KO (punch) — Round 1, 3:23
• Aaron Riley def. Shane Nelson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Johny Hendricks def. Amir Sadollah via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 0:29
• Ricardo Almeida def. Kendall Grove via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Kurt Pellegrino def. Josh Neer via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• John Howard def. Tamdan McCrory via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Alessio Sakara def. Thales Leites via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
• Matthew Riddle def. Dan Cramer via unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-27)
• George Sotiropoulos def. George Roop via submission (kimura) — Round 2, 1:59
• Jesse Lennox def. Danillo Villefort via TKO (cut) — Round 3, 3:37

Click here for more UFC 101 coverage.

The UFC lightweight champion Penn and challenger Florian both tipped the scales exactly at 155 pounds, while UFC middleweight title-holder Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin both weighed in at 205 for their light heavyweight matchup.

Welterweight Tamdan McCrory was the only fighter who visibly struggled to make weight, arriving at the scale still wearing his sauna suit, but didn’t require the one-pound allowance, weighing in right at the division limit of 170-pounds.

One of the lone surprises at the UFC 101 weigh-ins was The Ultimate Fighter 7 winner Amir Sadollah, who weighed in at just 166.5 pounds for his 170-pound welterweight matchup against Johny Hendricks.

The official weigh-in results for UFC 101 were:

MAIN CARD

• 155: B.J. Penn (c) (155) vs. Kenny Florian (155)
  UFC Lightweight Championship
• 205: Anderson Silva (205) vs. Forrest Griffin (205)
• 185: Kendall Grove (185.5) vs. Ricardo Almeida (185)
• 155: Josh Neer (155.5) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (154.5)
• 170: Amir Sadollah (166.5) vs. Johny Hendricks (171)

PRELIMINARY CARD

• 155: Shane Nelson (156) vs. Aaron Riley (154)
• 170: Tamdan McCrory (170) vs. John Howard (169.5)
• 185: Thales Leites (185) vs. Alessio Sakara (185.5)
• 170: Matthew Riddle (170) vs. Dan Cramer (169.5)
• 155: George Sotiropoulos (155) vs. George Roop (154)
• 170: Jesse Lennox (171) vs. Danillo Villefort (170.25)

Remember: Fighters are granted a one-pound allowance for non-championship bouts.

Pictured: Anderson Silva

Amir Sadollah

The UFC today announced the majority of the fight card for UFC 101: Declaration, which is set for August 8th at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.

Joining BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian and Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin on the pay-per-view main card will be Johny Hendricks vs. Amir Sadollah, Ricardo Almeida vs. Kendall Grove, and Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellgrino.

Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley, John Howard vs. Tamdan McCrory, Dan Cramer vs. Matthew Riddle, Rob Emerson vs. George Sotiropoulos, and Jesse Lennox vs. Danillo Villefort were confirmed for the unaired preliminary card.

The only rumored bout that has not yet been officially announced is a middleweight fight between Thales Leites and Alessio Sakara.

Tickets for UFC 101: Declaration will go on sale next week.

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Thales Leites

Recent middleweight title challenger Thales Leites has been tapped to replace an injured Rousimar Palhares and square off with Alessio Sakara at UFC 101 on August 8th in Philadelphia.

Leites confirmed the bout to InTheGuard.tv earlier today.

Palhares was forced to withdraw from the 185-pound bout on Saturday after suffering a broken leg during training.

“What is most important is getting back to fighting as soon as possible”, Leites told intheguard.tv, “I know that I didn’t fight well, that things didn’t go as I wanted against Anderson Silva, so nothing is better than starting again. I know that the expectations will be enormous, because now I need to show that I deserve another shot at the title. But this is good, it will give more motivation.”

Prior to his unanimous decision loss to middleweight champion Anderson Silva in April, Leites (14-2) had won five-straight UFC bouts over Pete Sell, Floyd Sword, Ryan Jensen, Nate Marquardt, and Drew McFedries. His only other career loss came in 2006 to Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut.

Sakara is 4-4 with one no contest in nine bouts inside the octagon. Sakara dropped down to middleweight from light heavyweight following a 3-3 start to his UFC career,  but suffered a first-round TKO to Chris Leben last March at UFC 82 in his debut at the new weight class. In his most recent bout, “Legionarius” earned his first win at 185-pounds with a first-round knockout of Joe Vedepo at UFC Fight Night 15 last July.

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Rousimar Palhares

A broken tibia suffered during a recent wrestling session has forced Rousimar Palhares (9-2) out of his scheduled matchup with Alessio Sakara (17-7), which was to take place on August 29th at UFC 101 in Philadelphia.

According to InTheGuard.tv, who first reported the injury citing the Portugese ITGFightTalk radio show, Palhares will be out for at least 60 days.

Palhares joined the UFC in 2008 following a 7-1 start to his career and has gone 2-1 inside the octagon, defeating Ivan Salaverry in his May debut and most recently scored a victory over Jeremy Horn in January, while his only loss came to Dan Henderson last September.

Sakara is 4-4 with one no contest in nine bouts inside the octagon. Sakara dropped down to middleweight from light heavyweight following a 3-3 start to his UFC career,  but suffered a first-round TKO to Chris Leben last March at UFC 82 in his debut at the new weight class. In his most recent bout, “Legionarius” earned his first win at 185-pounds with a first-round knockout of Joe Vedepo at UFC Fight Night 15 last July.

The UFC is currently seeking a replacement to meet Sakara on the UFC 101 card.

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Alessio Sakara

A middleweight bout between Alessio Sakara and Rousimar Palhares has been added to the preliminary lineup for UFC 99, which takes place on June 13 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany.

The matchup was first reported by MMA Weekly on Monday.

Sakara (17-7) was originally slated to meet Alan Belcher at UFC 99 but Belcher will instead square off with UFC newcomer Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 100 in July. “Legionarius” is 4-4 with one no contest in nine bouts inside the octagon. Sakara dropped down to middleweight from light heavyweight following a 3-3 start to his UFC career,  but suffered a first-round TKO to Chris Leben last March at UFC 82 in his debut at the new weight class. In his most recent bout, Sakara earned his first win at 185-pounds with a first-round knockout of Joe Vedepo at UFC Fight Night 15 last July.

Palhares (9-2) debuted in the UFC last May with a first-round submission of Ivan Salaverry. After suffering a unanimous decision loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 88 in September, “Toquinho” rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Jeremy Horn at UFC 93 in January.

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Mark Coleman

• UFC newcomer Yoshihiro Akiyama is in talks to fight Alan Belcher at UFC 100 on July 11th. The status of a rumored fight between Belcher and Alessio Sakara at UFC 99 is unknown.
• The UFC will re-broadcast UFC 94 on Spike TV on April 11th opposite Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz.
• Lightweights Dale Hartt and Denis Siver will meet at UFC 99 on June 13th in Cologne, Germany.
• Heavyweight Shane Carwin, who defeated Gabriel Gonzaga in the UFC 96 co-main event on Saturday, will soon undergo surgery for a broken nose and will require 6-8 weeks to heal.
• A late addition has been made to the UFC Fight Night 18 lineup as middleweights Tim Credeur and Nick Catone will clash on the April 1st card.
• Eliot Marshall and Mike Ciesnolevicz will square off in a light heavyweight bout at UFC 97 on April 18th in Montreal.
• Light heavyweight Mike Patt has been released by the UFC following his second-round TKO loss to Brandon Vera on Saturday at UFC 96.
• A light heavyweight bout featuring Stephan Bonnar against UFC hall of famer Mark Coleman has been added to UFC 100.
• Welterweight Tom Egan has been cut by the UFC after losing to Jon Hathaway in January at UFC 93.

Alan Belcher Submits Denis Kang

On a busy news day for the UFC, with multiple fights confirmed for upcoming pay-per-views including UFCs 98 and 99, it appears that another fight is being set for UFC 99 in Cologne Germany. Veterans Alan Belcher and Alessio Sakara are in negotiations for a Middleweight tilt to take place at the event, according to MMAWeekly. Both fighters are known for their striking, so it is expected that this bout will take place primarily on the feet.

In his last fight, at UFC 93, Belcher picked up a somewhat of a surprise victory over highly touted UFC newcomer Denis Kang. The victory came via guillotine choke in the third round, after falling behind on the cards for the first two rounds of the fight, making him 5-3 in his UFC career.

Sakara is coming off of a first round knock out over UFC newcomer Joe Vedepo at UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Neer. However Sakara has had an up and down career with the UFC, bringing him to a 4-4-1 UFC record going into the June bout with Belcher.

To continue following the card for UFC 99: The Comeback as it develops, visit our UFC 99 Rumors page.