BJ Penn gave a guarantee on Wednesday night’s edition of ‘UFC Tonight’ on FOX Sports 1 that he’ll be fighting at UFC 196 on March 5th in Las Vegas, but there’s still a big question mark over who his opponent will be.
Penn had originally called out Nik Lentz to fight and the two had gone back and forth in a war of words, but it seems that he’s no longer the leading contender to land a fight with the former two division champion and UFC hall-of-famer.
Instead it’s now believed that Germany’s Dennis Siver has now emerged as the most likely opponent for Penn, though it remains speculation at this stage.
Siver has been going through a difficult spell in his career, producing just one victory in his last five fights and also tested positive for hCG during that period which led to a nine month suspension and a win over Manvel Gamburyan being amended to a no-contest.
The latter stages of Penn’s career also make for grim reading, suffering five losses in his last seven Octagon appearances, with the only bright spots being a KO win over his old rival Matt Hughes and a draw with Jon Fitch.
Penn was fighting as high as welterweight during that period though and was taking on top talents like Frankie Edgar (three times), Rory MacDonald and Nick Diaz.
For this upcoming fight Penn has moved from his traditional base in Hawaii to train at the world famous Jackson’s MMA gym in New Mexico.
UFC 196 takes place on March 5th and is set to be headlined by a lightweight title fight between current champion Rafael dos Anjos and featherweight title holder Conor McGregor, with a woman’s bantamweight title fight between Holly Holm and Miesha Tate also taking place in the co-main event of the Las Vegas card.
