Previously-reported fights between Matt Hamill and Jon Jones as well as Frankie Edgar and Kurt Pellegrino were confirmed for The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale, while BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez, Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo, and Thiago Alves vs. Paulo Thiago were announced for UFC 107.

For the latest UFC news and UFC rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.

Pictured: Jon Jones

UFC President Dana White discussed the fight and event at Thursday’s UFC 102 press conference, adding that the card wouldn’t air on Spike TV like UFC 105 nor pay-per-view like UFC 106, but would apparently be the debut of a new broadcast deal to-be-announced, potentially with a network TV partner.

“Penn-Sanchez, but I don’t know where yet. We’re working on a deal right now,” said White. “It definitely won’t be in Manchester.”

“Neither,” White continued when asked whether it would air on Spike or PPV. “Wait and see boys…I’m pretty confident we’re gonna have a deal very, very soon. I like what I’m hearing now more than I ever did before…Once we get the right offer, we will be on network television. We haven’t had the right offer, yet.”

Pictured: Diego Sanchez

Penn (14-5-1) successfully defended the lightweight belt earlier this month at UFC 101, defeating Kenny Florian by fourth-round submission for his fourth win in last five fights. Prior to a January loss to Georges St-Pierre at welterweight, “The Prodigy” won consecutive lightweight bouts over Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson, and Sean Sherk.

Following his win over Florian, Penn announced that he’d like to return to the Octagon quickly to take on Sanchez and it appears he’ll get his wish by headlining UFC 105, which is expected to air for free on tape-delay on Spike TV.

Sanchez (23-2), a former welterweight contender with wins over the likes of Nick Diaz, Joe Riggs, and Karo Parisyan, made his anticipated lightweight debut in February with a unanimous decision over Joe Stevenson. In his most-recent fight, “Nightmare” topped Clay Guida by split decision in June in a victory that has apparently earned him a shot at the 155-pound belt.

For the latest UFC 105 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.

Pictured: BJ Penn

“[A title defense against Diego Sanchez] is gonna happen, hopefully within the next two, two-and-a-half months.

“I’m 30 now and I’m hoping to get a couple of more fights in. I know they say that in MMA, people peak later, but who knows? My whole career, fighting from age 20 to 30, I’ve gotten into real good shape and gotten out of shape and started getting back into shape again. I don’t want to do that anymore.

“Here I am. I’m in shape. I want to have fun for a couple of days, take some time off, eat some good food, and then I want to get right back into all that stuff.

[Sanchez is] really good; he’s really explosive. He’s shown that he has some knockout power and he’s a very good grappler. He’s very hungry; he’s shown that he wants to be a champion someday. This is an important fight.”

“I’d like to get a fight with St. Pierre again, but now that Diego Sanchez is next, once we get the word from Dana White, that’s what we’re gonna be thinkin’ about.”

• The official attendance for UFC 101 was 17,411. UFC President Dana White (pictured) said there were 11,000 fans for first prelim, the most-ever and the arena was nearly full at 16,500 midway through preliminary card.
• The live gate for UFC 101 was $3.55 million, the biggest in Pennsylvania history.
• The UFC awarded $60,000 fight night bonuses for UFC 101, with BJ Penn getting “Submission of the Night”, Anderson Silva getting “Knockout of the Night”, and Silva and Forrest Griffin getting “Fight of the Night”.
• White said he hadn’t seen Griffin since he ran out of the Octagon following the loss to Silva and that he “could be in Georgia for all I know”.
• Silva will return to 185-pounds for his next fight to defend the middleweight title against Dan Henderson.
• The UFC’s lightweight champ Penn will next fight Diego Sanchez.
• Anderson says a fight with light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida will never happen due to their friendship.
• White said the UFC will return to Philadelphia for a future event and is also looking at holding a future card at Fenway Park in Boston.

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

• Former EliteXC lightweight champ KJ Noons will return to MMA in 2009, likely with Strikeforce.
• Dana White is featured on the cover of the first-ever UFC magazine.
• Former UFC fighter Lee Murray, who was accused of a record $92 million robbery in 2006 in the UK, was released from a Moroccan prison on Wednesday only to be re-arrested on Thursday to be tried under Moroccan law at the request of British authorities.
• According to rumors, Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans are likely to headline UFC 107 on December 19 in Las Vegas. Main events aren’t yet rumored for Fight Night 19 (September 16 – Oklahoma City),  UFC 105 (November 14 – Manchester, England), UFC 106 (November 21 – Las Vegas), or The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale (December 5 – Las Vegas).
• A possible headliner for one of the upcoming events is Chuck Liddell, with rumors swirling in recent days that the former UFC light heavyweight champ won’t retire and will instead return for at least one more bout, with Rich Franklin mentioned as a possible opponent.
• WEC and PFC lightweight veteran Poppies Martinez has signed  with Strikeforce and will make his debut at the promotion’s August 15 event featuring Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg.
• Perhaps in an attempt to dismiss rumors fueled by Diego Sanchez’s recent interview that he could pull out of his August 8 lightweight bout with Kenny Florian, BJ Penn’s latest video blog is brief, simply showing the UFC lightweight champ stepping on a scale and weight in at slim 166.8 pounds ahead of the 155-pound bout.
• In a recent interview with Knuckled Up, WEC lightweight contender Donald Cerrone, who has just one fight remaining on his current contract, says that a move to the UFC is possible and that he wants to fight Cole Miller.
• With his broken hand now healed, Houston Alexander is working on his ground game with veteran Jeremy Horn in preparation for a fall UFC return.
• Following the recent demise of Setanta, the UFC’s new television partner in the UK could be ESPN.
• Early UFC fighters Mikey Burnett and Pat Miletich could rematch at a to-be-announced Strikeforce event in Oklahoma.
• Weigh-ins for UFC 100 will take place at 7pm ET on Friday July 10 and will air live on MMAFrenzy.com.
• Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Choi Mu Bae and Clay French vs. Eiji Mitsuoka have been added to the card for Sengoku Ninth Battle, which takes place on August 2 in Saitama, Japan.
• Hopes to have MMA regulated in New York before year-end have been dashed after the 2009 legislative session ended earlier this week before a decision was made on the bill.
• Aleksander Emelianenko will take on Blagoi Invanov, the 2008 Combat Sambo champion who defeated his brother Fedor en-route to the title, at a September 29 event in South Korea.
• In an appearance on HDNet’s “Inside MMA,” Cyrille Diabate, who appeared as the Team US striking coach on the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter, says he expects to make his UFC debut this year.
• Lyoto Machida, Randy Couture, and Fedor Emelianenko are some of the fighters who could be featured in EA’s mixed martial arts video game.
• The UFC will return to Germany in early-2010, with an event scheduled for April in Oberhausen.
• PRIDE veteran Ricardo Arona will resume his career on September 12 in Brazil.
• The UFC awarded TUF 9 coaches Dan Hendersona and Michael Bisping new Land Rovers.
• Wanderlei Silva, who lost a close decision to Rich Franklin earlier this month at UFC 99, wants to fight twice more before the end of 2009.

[Pictured: Chuck Liddell]

As much as we would all like “Grease Gate” to go away, BJ Penn brought it up again this week on his video blog at BJPenn.com, in response to a question by one of the members of his website. This time Penn stated among other things:

All that stuff is important to me, but I’ve got a big fight coming up with Kenny Florian, so I can’t concentrate on that too much, But I will say, the athletic commission, from what I understand the whole thing’s not finished. The athletic commission can do whatever they want. It’s Nevada’s commission. They can do whatever they want.

I will say that, for me personally, Keith Kizer can’t be trusted, I don’t trust him in any way. And, as far as… you know, as far as what they’re gonna do, who knows, we’ll see what happens, but honestly I have no interest in ever fighting in Nevada or Las Vegas again, and that’s all I have to say about that whole situation.

There was not much more concerning the “Grease Gate” situation, but the whole video is below if you wish it view it in it’s entirety.

Find more videos like this on BJPENN.COM

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.

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest UFC 101 news.