The return of former UFC Welterweight and UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn will be held off a little while longer as the former multi-division champion has suffered an injury. Penn has also been pulled from UFC Fight Night 97, a show he was set to headline against Ricardo Lamas.
There is a grand total of eleven days before the event, so UFC officials do have time to find a potential replacement to fight Lamas in the main event.
Penn was looking to return to action for the first time in over two years, but an injury has now caused his third potential comeback fight to be put to a halt. Penn had been planning to fight both Cole Miller and Denis Siver, but injuries and a USADA violation canceled those plans as well.
If Lamas were to be removed from the card, a heavyweight division fight between Derrick Lewis and Marcin Tybura would serve as the main event, with Jenel Lausa and Yao Zhikui serving as the co-main event.
Another scenario could see the UFC put another featherweight who is already on the UFC Fight Night 97 card into the main event, the only other featherweights competing on the card are Cole Miller and Mizuto Hirota, who were set to kick off the main card against each other.
UFC Fight Night 97 takes place on October 15th from the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines with Ricardo Lamas and an opponent to be named headlining.
