UFC 80 FIGHT CARD FINALIZED

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UFC 80 FIGHT CARD FINALIZED
Wednesday, January 09, 2008 - by MMAWeekly.com

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Tuesday officially announced the remainder of its UFC 80 fight card scheduled to take place on Jan. 19 in Newcastle, England.

In addition to the already announced main event between B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson and a heavyweight contest pitting Gabriel Gonzaga against Fabricio Werdum, the UFC announced three more fights for the pay-per-view portion of the event.

American Top Team fighter Wilson Gouveia will face Jason Lambert in a light heavyweight fight. The winner is likely to be considered a contender for the title currently held by Quinton Jackson, while the other will have to regroup.

Jess Liaudin, one of the top welterweight fighters in Britain, squares up against “The Irish Hand Grenade” Marcus Davis. Liaudin is on a five-fight winning streak and trying to make his mark in a loaded weight class. Since a loss near the tail end of 2005, Davis has strung together 10 straight wins and holds the No. 10 spot in the MMAWeekly World MMA Rankings at welterweight.

Rounding out the announcement is a middleweight bout between UFC veterans Jorge Rivera and Kendall Grove. Both are returning after suffering losses in their last bouts and are looking to get back on track.

The Penn vs. Stevenson bout is a battle for the vacant UFC lightweight championship formerly held by Sean Sherk. He was stripped of the title after being suspended by the California State Athletic Commission for testing positive for Nandrolone.

The bout between Gonzaga and Werdum is a rematch of a fight that took place at the beginning of their respective careers. Werdum won that first contest by TKO in the third round.

The preliminary bouts for UFC 80 include Alessio Sakara vs. James Lee, Sam Stout vs. Per Eklund, Paul Kelly vs. Paul Taylor, and Colin Robinson vs. Antoni Hardonk.

The event will air live on pay-per-view in the United States at 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT and replay at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.