UFC 107 will take place on December 12 in Memphis, Tennessee. The main event will be lightweight champion BJ Penn (14-5) versus Diego Sanchez (21-2). Penn is coming off a dominant win over Kenny Florian. He looks back to form after losing to welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre last January.

Diego Sanchez earned this title shot against Penn after reeling off four straight wins. Sanchez beat Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson to claim number one contender status.

BJ “The Prodigy” Penn

Penn was motivated against his fight against Kenny Florian but will it be the same Penn against Sanchez? Penn has an advantage in every category against Sanchez. He has a far more superior stand-up game, a more tested ground game and all the confidence in the world.

Penn should force Sanchez into fighting him standing up. Sanchez does not have the strength to force Penn to the ground. Penn will just shrug off take down attempts by Sanchez.

Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez

Sanchez earned the right to receive a beat down from Penn. The key to beating Penn is roughing him up and inflicting damage with ground-and-pound.

The only way I see Penn losing is if he comes in out of shape and unmotivated. It’s that simple. Sanchez isn’t strong enough to physically tire Penn down.

Penn and Sanchez have two common opponents. Penn submitted both Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson. Sanchez scored a TKO victory over Stevenson and beat Stevenson via decision. Penn was much more dominating in his wins against Florian and Stevenson.

It’s going to take a lot of patience by Sanchez to beat Penn. He must counter effectively to frustrate Penn early on. He must play a smart game and survive Penn’s early onslaught.

Frank Mir (12-4) vs Cheick Kongo (19-5)

Mir will get a shot at redemption after losing the heavyweight title to Brock Lesnar. Lesnar was simply too big and explosive for Mir.

Kongo is coming off a loss against Cain Velasquez. He missed his opportunity to compete for the UFC heavyweight title.

Mir and Kongo have great boxing skills but Mir holds an advantage because of his experience. Mir has to bring the fight to the ground. If Kongo wants to beat Mir he has to overwhelm him with his power. It wouldn’t be surprising if Kongo scored the upset over Mir.