The returning BJ Penn vs. Yair Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 103 in Phoenix


It's Ultimate Fighting Championship's first event of 2017!

January 15, 2017, the UFC Fight Night 103 will takes place at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The bout is headlined by the featherweight clash between former UFC two-division champ BJ Penn and Mexican phenom Yair Rodriguez.

Yair Rodriguez remains undefeated in the UFC with a 5-0 record (10-1 overall). He made his debut in 2014 at UFC 180: Werdum vs Hunt and won The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America tournament. One of the most impressive fights for yours truly by this featherweight prospect was against Andre Fili at UFC 197: Jones vs Saint Preux. A high-flying left kick knocked out his opponent in the second round. His spun with kicks against Alex Caceres at UFC Fight Night 92 was very entertaining to watch as well. Their fight was an excellent exhibition of two skilled new talents.

After the the third set back BJ Penn has experienced on his return to competition in 2016 which even led to cancellation of UFC Manila 2.0, "The Prodigy" made the weight to 146 at the early official weigh-in on Sarurday and finally returns from retirement. It's been almost three years BJ Penn hasn't step into the octagon.

Will "Pantera" be able to extend his five win streak or BJ Penn emerge victorious on his comeback?

Injuries have forced a pair of changes to the card. In the flyweight division, former world title challenger John Moraga replaces the injured Jussier Formiga against Milwaukee's Sergio Pettis. Plus, with Jordan Rinaldi forced to withdraw, unbeaten Drakkar Klose has stepped in to make his Octagon debut against his fellow UFC newcomer Devin Powell.

Jimmie Rivera vs. Bryan Caraway was expected to co-headline the event. However, Caraway pulled out of the bout on January 4 citing an undisclosed injury. He was replaced by Marlon Vera. Eventually, Rivera pulled from the fight as he felt going from a top-5 ranked fighter to an unranked one wouldn't make sense at that moment. Jimmie Rivera wins the biggest one of his promising career which is against Urijah Faber at UFC 203. El Terror is the #6 ranked fighter in the UFC's Bantamweight division.

Everybody needs to pay attention to the co-main event because Joe "ALWAYS exciting to watch" Lauzon squares off with Marcin Held. Whenever the warrior is in the card, I always hope his fight turns into a UFC 155-esque. Held is a black belt in jiu jitsu. Both are nasty in no gi. Looks like it's going to be a ground war.

UFN: PHOENIX: FS1 MAIN CARD

Featherweight- Yair Rodriguez vs. B.J. Penn
Lightweigh- Joe Lauzon vs. Marcin Held
Welterweight- Court McGee vs. Ben Saunders
Flyweight- John Moraga vs. Sergio Pettis

FS1 PRELIMINARY CARD

Bantamweight- Frankie Saenz vs. Augusto Mendes
Heavyweight- Oleksiy Oliynyk vs. Viktor Pešta
Lightweight- Alex White vs. Tony Martin
Heavyweight- Walt Harris vs. Chase Sherman

UFC FIGHT PASS PRELIMINARY CARD

Women’s Strawweight- Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger vs. Nina Ansaroff
Lightweight- Devin Powell vs. Drakkar Klose
Light Heavyweight- Joachim Christensen vs. Bojan Mihajlović
Heavyweight- Dmitri Smoliakov vs. Cyril Asker

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