The Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C. will be the home of UFC Fight Night 21, tonight, as Peruvian-American lightweight Kenny Florian (12-4) and Japanese lightweight Takanori Gomi (31-5) headline the event.

Hailing from Brookline, Mass., Florian has a blackbelt in BJJ and Genjitsu, and also specializes in Muay Thai, and is ranked by multiple MMA publications as the third best lightweight in the world. Tonight’s fight could set the foundation for his status in mixed martial arts with another win.

“Ken-Flo” split his last two fights, both occurring in 2009. In August of 2008, he faced off against B.J. Penn for the Lightweight Championship at UFC 101 in Philadelphia, Penn.

This wasn’t his first title shot, as he formerly had an opportunity in 2006 at UFC 64 in Las Vegas, Nev. against former champion Shawn Sherk.

Florian vs. Penn, Image Courtesy of MMA Weekly

Penn, who was labeled the most dominant fighter in mixed martial arts, was pushed to four rounds by Florian, but was still able to hang on and force Ken-Flo into submission with a rear naked chokehold at 3:54 in the fourth round.

So, Florian got back on his feet and prepared for his next fight against American Clay Guida at UFC 107, where Penn headlined that event, defeating Diego Sanchez to once again retain his title.

Memphis, Tenn. was the home of this event, and Florian didn’t take much time to prove the critics wrong. This time around, it was Florian who won the bout with a rear naked chokehold at 2:19 in the second round.

Florian, who owns and fights out of his own gym (Florian Martial Arts Center), with his brother Keith, will headline tonight’s event, which also includes Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Silver, Roy Nelson vs. Stefan Struve, and Nate Quarry vs. Jorge Rivera.

While Gomi has been criticized for his career’s decline over the last few years, Florian has said that he is not a believer in Gomi’s lack of talent at this stage in his career, according to MMA Weekly. The big concern for Gomi will most likely be falling to submission, as he has lost three of his five bouts this way. Florian can back that up, as he has made eight of his professional opponents submit.

UFC Fight Night 21’s doors open at 4:00 p.m. eastern time, and the first bout begins at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. It will air tonight on Spike TV at 8:00 p.m. eastern time.

BJ Penn’s high kick to Diego Sanchez’s forehead this past weekend at UFC 107 has added another epic cut for MMA enthiasists around the world.  Although dominating the entire fight, Penn was unable to finish Sanchez until the 5th round when he sent a high kick to Diego’s head, causing a nasty cut and forcing a doctor’s stoppage.  This marked the first time that Diego was finished in an MMA fight.

Some other nasty cuts:

Marvin Eastman

Joe Stevenson

Alex Reid

The Arena: San Diego’s premium mixed-martial arts gym. Training fighters all over the nation in boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, wrestling and of course, MMA. The victorious fighter in the video above, Pat Speight, may look scrawny, but the Arena has taught him well. I mean, just look at how he man-handles Ishmael Gonzalez in just three minutes!

The Arena stays away from traditional classes such as cardio and strength training. Instead, the gym hones fighting skill, both mentally and physically. The result: a cardio-infused, strength-training based, no-holds barred selection of classes to not only keep fighters in shape, but to shape the fighters into warriors.

The Arena needs no publicity; the greatest fighters in the world know all about it. It was, however, given plenty of spotlight recently thanks to a little event called UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez. The Sanchez in that title is one of the Arena’s best known fighters, and as a result, the Countdown show for UFC 107 went to San Diego to go behind the scenes and learn more about Sanchez’s training and coaching. The traditional preview show will debut the second week of December, so keep an eye on Spike TV or good ol’ Youtube.

The gym is home to many famous Californians and MMA fighters, including Jiu Jitsu master Rani Yahya, 6x Jiu Jitsu World Champion Saulo Ribeiro, UFC 107 headliner Diego Sanchez, boxing phenom KJ Noons, and the submission-favoring Fabricio Camoes.

Of course, you probably won’t find one of San Diego’s most well-known residents, anchorman Ron Burgundy, working out there. He’s a little bit busy it seems…

In the main event of the TUF 9 finale, the matchup between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida turned into a fantastic battle of wills, with Sanchez coming out on top by a hair and moving on to a potential title shot at 155.

Diego Sanchez won a great split over Clay Guida

Both men exploded out of the gate with punches, with Sanchez rocking Guida and throwing furious strikes until Guida finally stopped the punishment with a takedown. Sanchez switches to rubber guard and Guida stood up, but Sanchez throws a huge headkick that drops Guida. A flying knee by Sanchez connects but Guida incredibly does not go down. A short clinch leads to Sanchez getting the trip takedown, but Guida amazingly gets up as the round ends.

Guida executes a takedown at the start of round two, and Sanchez responds with elbows from bottom. A kimura attempt from bottom fails, and the crowd chants his name. Sanchez uses elbows from bottom to set up rubber guard again, but then continues to throw big elbows from guard. Guida, however, is relentless and grinds Sanchez into the ground as round two ends.

With all to fight for in round three, Guida continued to push forward and both men land punches on each other. A failed takedown by Guida leads to back control by Sanchez, but he slips off while trying to lock in an arm triangle. Guida lands on top and defends a Sanchez kimura attempt. Sanchez transitions to armbar but loses it as the round ends. At the end of the fight, the score is truly too close to call, but a split decision victory is awarded to Diego Sanchez.

Guida showed once again that he had a chin of steel, but skill-wise, Sanchez just outclassed him on this night, using his reach advantage to club Guida with strikes while delivering as much punishment with elbows from bottom as Guida did to him from top. Guida’s standup never really threatened Sanchez, however, and with Sanchez’s berserker elbows from bottom, that made all the difference.