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UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn (pictured) coming out of retirement for the third time is now a reality. On Tuesday, UFC president Dana White told Yahoo! Sports that Penn will face Dennis Siver at UFC 199 in a featherweight affair.
The event takes place June 4 inside the Forum in Inglewood, California.
Unlike in Penn’s previous returns to the cage, there’s some controversy swirling around his latest comeback. Penn was accused of sexual assault in February, which forced the UFC to “postpone plans to book Penn for an upcoming bout until more details are determined.”
Pedro Alex Carrasco, who stated he worked with Penn for 10 years before leaving BJPenn.com in October, claimed to have proof that Penn forced himself on his girlfriend.
According to Yahoo!, and “internal UFC investigation into sexual assault allegations made against Penn could not be substantiated.”
Penn never personally addressed the allegations, but his camp denied any wrongdoing and cited “extortion.”
Penn initially called it quits after getting blasted by Nick Diaz at UFC 137 in October 2011. He decided to return to the cage 14 months later, but was once again was steamrolled, this time at the hands of contender Rory MacDonald.
Instead of walking away again, Penn decided to try and reinvent himself by dropping to featherweight. Unfortunately for Penn, Frankie Edgar rained on his parade and sent him on another trip to the retirement home – but not before thrashing his face with firsts and elbows.
It was arguably the worst Penn had ever looked during his UFC Hall of Fame career.
“The Prodigy” owns a 16-10-2 professional record. The 37-year-old hasn’t won a fight since knocking out a well-past-his-prime Matt Hughes in November 2010.
Penn is one of only two UFC fighters to don titles in two different weight classes.
Siver is also looking to get his career back on track having lost two straight. The kickboxer was most recently seen dropping a decision to Tatsuya Kawajiri last June. He was plastered by Conor McGregor six months before that.
Here is the show’s updated roster:
John Makdessi vs. Mehdi Baghdad
Tom Breese vs. Sean Strickland
“Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim vs. Polo Reyes
Luiz Henrique da Silva vs. Jonathan Wilson
Kevin Casey vs. Elvis Mutapcic
Evan Dunham vs. Leonardo Santos
Dustin Poirier vs. Bobby Green
BJ Penn vs. Dennis Siver
Urijah Faber vs. Dominick Cruz (UFC bantamweight champion)
Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold (UFC middleweight champion)
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