UFC 101 takes place Saturday in Philadelphia, with MMA fans anticipating two featured bouts: middleweight champion Anderson Silva taking on Forrest Griffin, and lightweight title-holder BJ Penn defending against top contender Kenny Florian.

But South Florida is excited about another bout on the card, one that might not be televised. American Top Team's Danillo Villefort makes his UFC debut against Jesse Lennox in a welterweight scrap.

Villefort, a Brazil native who runs his own American Top Team academy in Doral, has competed in the WEC but says Saturday's bout will be a personal milestone.

``This has been my dream to fight in the UFC,'' Villefort, 25, said. ``I will win this fight. I've been working hard and I'm coming to kick butt. I fight because I think I can be the best, and that's what I'm aiming to do.''

Villefort's father, Francisco Silva, was a legend in Brazil who fought Vale-Tudo (translated: ``anything goes''), and his godfather is former PRIDE heavyweight champion and current UFC contender Antonio Rodrigo ``Minotauro'' Nogueira. Villefort says he strives to continue his family's success.

``My dad and Minotauro have been good influences on me,'' he said. ``It would be dumb of me not to follow their advice. They want what's best for me.''

Villefort, who has a record of 9-2, is taking on a tough opponent in Lennox (14-1). An impressive win would put Villefort in the conversation a 170; a loss, and it's back to the drawing board.

``I train in the best gym in the world,'' said Villefort, who trains in Coconut Creek. ``I train with the best trainers, with the best fighters, and I am 100 percent prepared.''

TORRES VS. BOWLES

Saturday's bouts will get top billing this weekend, but there will also be a key matchup Sunday. Miguel Angel Torres, who perhaps is close to claiming the top spot on the pound-for-pound charts, defends his WEC bantamweight championship against unbeaten Brian Bowles.

Torres, 28, is one of the most dominating MMA fighters of all-time. He is 35-1 and has beaten the majority of his opponents with relative ease.

Armando Alvarez is a Miami-based freelance writer. He will contribute columns on mixed-martial arts regularly to MiamiHerald.com

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@