It seemed like it was only a matter of time and now it's official as former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight Champion BJ Penn will be returning to competition in September after accepting Rory MacDonald's challenge to face him in Toronto.
September 22nd is the date to be exact and UFC 152 will be the event. Penn discussed his motivation for taking the fight and also talked about his opponent via his website:
"Rory is very good, he is still young but I think he has been in the game so long and he's got a lot of miles on him, I think, not miles to where he is worn down or anything, I Just think he's got a lot of experience for being so young. He has been at a high level for a couple of years now and he is a great test. I was actually watching a video of his yesterday and he was saying, "I am 22 and at 24 I am going to be a world champion." So he is very good, he has got a lot of confidence, I am sure his team has a lot of confidence in him, also, so I think that this is definitely a great challenge and a great test.
So with that said, I like everything, I am definitely motivated for this fight, I like everything that's going on with this fight. Rory is one of the best guys, Firaz and everyone says he is going to be the champion in two years. I'm not thinking about any kind of title runs. I'm just coming back and doing this fight and I am pretty sure this is the last fight on my contract, I will have to go back and check again, but I think this is the last fight on my contract and I would like to finish out my contract, so."
