The Ultimate Fighting Championships presents UFC 101: Declaration tonight from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Penn.

The main card features five strong fights with a pair of blockbuster matchups headlining the event.
Here are my picks and predictions for UFC 101, as well as the bantamweight championship fight taking place on Sunday for the WEC.

Lightweight Championship (155 pounds) – B.J. Penn (13-5-1) vs. Kenny Florian (12-3): B.J. Penn is considered the best in the world at 155 pounds and there is no arguing that. Florian is Penn’s top challenger for the belt, but Florian seems outmatched in every aspect of the fight. Penn is eager to erase his devastating loss to Georges St. Pierre last January and a dominant win over Florian would do just that. Penn has better stand up with his speed and quick jab and his ground game is better as he is a world champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The one area that Florian may be better is in conditioning, where Penn has been suspect for years. Florian will make it a tough fight for Penn, but in the end I see Penn winning by choke in round three.

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Miguel Torres may be the best fighter you’ve never seen.

At 37-1 in his professional mixed martial arts career, Torres is considered to be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. But, it was only in the last two years that Torres has started to garner national recognition. Two years ago Torres debuted for World Extreme Cagefighting, and in a short time became the WEC Bantamweight (135-pound limit) champion with a first-round submission of then-champion, Chase Beebe, in September of 2007.

In his first title defense, Torres stole the show at WEC 34 in a three-round war with Yoshior Maeda and began to draw the attention of MMA fans worldwide. Now, as he is set for his fourth title defense on Aug. 9 against Brian Bowles in WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles on Versus at 9 p.m., Torres is looking for another exciting fight that will push him up the pound-for-pound rankings and make him an even bigger commodity in the world of MMA.

As Torres prepares for his latest fight, he took some time from training to speak with The Scores Report about Bowles, how he got started in MMA, and his feelings on Floyd Mayweather Jr.

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