Sean Pierson does not think B.J. Penn is a headliner right now.
During an episode of Fightful MMA's podcast, Sean Pierson and podcast host "Showdown Joe" Ferraro were asked by a viewer about Kevin Lee and Michael Chiesa potentially headlining UFC Fight Night 112. The card already features former champion B.J. Penn fighting Dennis Siver and former champion Johnny Hendricks fighting Tim Boetsch. Pierson said Lee versus Chiesa makes more sense as a main event than Penn's or Hendricks' bouts.
"It's the only fight with any relevancy in the division, I don't know if it's a main event fight, but I don't consider the other two fights main events either. B.J. Penn is one of my all-time favorite fighters but putting him as a main event now is going along the whole legends line. I don't think he should be main event, Johny Hendricks, I don't think that's a main event right now. The Kevin Lee one, if it's a Fight Night, that's the main event." said Pierson. "If it's a Fight Night, I can see him being that main event because they have to push (Lee). They're trying to build him. Fight Nights are to build people. Fight Nights aren't to sell, that's how I look at those. So if you're having a Fight Night, trying to build guys up, putting him as a headliner makes some sense," he added.
Pierson went on to say despite Hendricks' and Penn's name value, their bouts have less relevancy to their respective divisions. The eleventh ranked Lee and the seventh ranked Chiesa have not been officially added to the card but Ariel Helwani reported the match-up was being talked about as the main event for the June 25th Fight Night card. Fightful MMA will report when any fight is officially added to the fight card. In the rest of the podcast, Pierson would discuss Chael Sonnen versus Wanderlei Silva including their press conference for Bellator: NYC. He also discussed his feelings on when George St-Pierre and Michael Bisping will fight and the fallout that will ensue.
Pierson appears on Wednesdays on Fightful MMA's podcast, where he gives his opinion on upcoming bouts and current events going on within mixed-martial-arts.
