B.J. Penn’s comeback has had another setback.
Just under two weeks out from his UFC Manila main event vs. Ricardo Lamas, Penn has withdrawn from the October 15th card due to an undisclosed injury. MMAjunkie broke the news on Tuesday.
Penn (16-10-2) hasn’t fought since a brutal loss to Frankie Edgar in 2014, which prompted him to retire from the sport. After a UFC hall-of-fame induction in July 2015, Penn announced his return to fighting in January 2016. He was scheduled to fight Cole Miller at UFC 199, but was pulled from the card after violating the year-round IV ban. Penn was suspended by USADA for six-months because of this infraction. Penn’s last win was a quick KO of Matt Hughes, way back in 2010.
Lamas (16-5) did fight at UFC 199, losing a unanimous decision to Max Holloway. His only other UFC main event, back in April 2015, ended in a 1st round knockout loss to Chad Mendes.
As of this writing, there’s no word yet on a replacement for Penn (or if there will even be one), but Bloody Elbow will update the article when more details are available.
The scheduled co-main is a heavyweight bout between Derrick Lewis and Marcin Tybura, while the only other featherweight fight on the card is Cole Miller vs. Mizuto Hirota. UFC Fight Night 97 streams exclusively on Fight Pass.
