By Kelsey Mowatt Since he lost to lightweight champion Frankie Edgar for a second time at UFC 118, on August 28th, BJ Penn (15-7-1) has stated publicly that he wants to get back in the Octagon as soon as possible. Well, it looks like the decorated veteran may get his wish; in Penn’s latest video blog on BJPenn.com, the Hawaiian fighter stated:
“Dana White’s been texting me the last couple of days and it looks like we’re probably going to be back in the ring in November sometime. Dana’s trying to put the fight together, but that’s what I know as of right now, so, I’ll keep you guys posted. This is going to be good.”
There are two UFC events scheduled to take place in November. UFC 122 will take place on November 13th in Oberhausen, Germany, and will be headlined by a middleweight bout between Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami, and on November 20th, the promotion will head to Auburn Hills for UFC 123, which will feature light-heavyweight “Rampage” Jackson vs. Lyoto Machida in the main event.
Earlier this week UFC lightweight Clay Guida posted on his Twitter account that his next opponent is someone with “alot of power in his hands,” leading to speculation that perhaps Penn or Takanori Gomi could be the lightweight’s next opponent.
Although Gomi, who is coming off a stunning, first round KO of Tyson Griffin on August 1st, is currently without a scheduled opponent, a rematch between the former Pride champ and Penn is also an extremely marketable fight. Penn submitted Gomi in the third round at a Rumble in the Rock card in October, 2003.
Prior to Penn’s Unanimous Decision losses to Edgar, in April and August respectively, the former champion had gone 5-1 in UFC competition since 2006. His only loss during that stretch came against welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, who stopped him in the fourth round of their January, 2009, rematch.
