UFC 107 - What we learned...

I thought it was a pretty good UFC fight card this last weekend.
Struve is a young, interesting, specialty heavyweight submission
artist. I say give him time to improve his striking and maybe gain
some weight. Fitch ground out a decision, but not without a late 3rd
round scare. Mir backed-up all that smack talk, which was a tall
order; given that he REALLY pissed-off Kongo trashing his game. But,
Mir proved that he is indeed motivated after the loss to Lesnar, and a
motivated Mir is dangerous. Same can be said for Penn. These two are
remarkably similar, they can be quite mouthy and got by on talent
alone for the first half of their respective careers. BJ is taking his
career seriously and looked to be in top form. He basically
neutralized Sanchez and picked his spots, counter-punching. I thought
it was over in the first round, but Herb Dean made a wise choice in
letting it go. Penn never tired and Sanchez also never altered his
ineffective game plan. Diego has a nasty souvenir on his forehead to
forever remember this fight. BJ took no damage at all. In a 23 minute
championship fight, that's pretty impressive or terrible matchmaking.
I would say a bit of both.
Which leads to the next steps. Who's next for Penn? The lightweight
challengers are all but mopped up. I think the best lightweight
challengers are outside the UFC right now. Maybe Aoki or Alvarez can
be brought it? For Mir, I think he will get the first Interim
Heavyweight Champ shot. I figure Lesnar can't defend until late in
2010 at best. In the meantime, I see an Interim Champion fight
happening. It will be between: Mir, Carwin, and/or the
Nogueria/Velasquez winner. Probably Mir vs. Carwin.