Following UFC 127, B.J. Penn exits the lightweight rankings and enters at welterweight. | Sherdog.com
B.J. Penn will stick around at the weight for which he first won UFC gold -- at least for now.
Though his 21-second November knockout of fellow ex-champ Matt Hughes portended exciting things for Penn’s latest welterweight jaunt, “The Prodigy” hit a stumbling block in the form of one Jon Fitch at UFC 127. Despite a strong start which saw the larger wrestler taken down multiple times, Penn faded late and was pounded on by Fitch in the final round. Through his early work, Penn salvaged a majority draw and proved himself still capable of hanging with -- if not defeating -- one of the division’s toughest.
Forty-five pounds down the scale, the flyweight rankings were shaken by a pair of bouts that took place Feb. 18 at Tachi Palace Fights 8 in Lemoore, Calif.
In one, formerly top-ranked 125-pounder Jussier da Silva was defeated for the first time in his career by debuting flyweight and World Exteme Cagefighting veteran Ian McCall, who used heavy hands and good takedown defense to nab a unanimous decision. In an equally surprising result, Darrell Montague snatched Ulysses Gomez’s TPF flyweight belt in a five-round clean sweep which saw the “Mongoose” maul “Useless” on the feet.
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