It’s been eight years since UFC hall-of-famer and former two-division champion BJ Penn last won a fight. Currently on a five-fight losing streak, the 39-year-old Penn is apparently going to continue his career in the UFC.
ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reports that the UFC is looking to make a featherweight fight between “The Prodigy” and grappling standout Ryan Hall for an event in either November or December. Contracts haven’t been signed, nothing is finalized, but they are working on getting this done, and Penn is apparently already training in Brazil.
Penn (16-12-2) last fought in July 2017, dropping a decision to Dennis Siver, who survived a knockdown in round two and won the decisive third and final round. Preceding that loss was a TKO defeat vs. Yair Rodriguez, which marked the first time that Penn had ever been knocked down. Last month, Penn said he’d return to fighting if the UFC “gives me a guy that I can beat.” I guess Ryan Hall fits the description for him.
Hall (6-1) won season 22 of The Ultimate Fighter back in 2015, dominating Artem Lobov by unanimous decision. The multi-time BJJ world champion has fought just once since capturing the TUF title, besting Gray Maynard in their bizarre 2016 encounter. Hall recently disclosed that he nearly retired, apparently due to opponents not wanting to fight him, and that he was looking “to face the most challenging opposition available.”
Again, nothing is official just yet, but it does look like we’ll see BJ Penn in the Octagon one more time.
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