Penn returns to the Octagon after two years without fighting. (Photo: Getty Images)
More than two years after announcing his retirement from MMA, the legend B.J. Penn returns to the Ultimate Octagon this Sunday, the 15th, against the young Yair Rodriguez, in the main fight of UFC Phoenix, in the United States, in a duel valid for the featherweight category.
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At 38, Penn hasn't won a list since November 2010, when he knocked out Matt hugs still playing at welterweight. Afterwards, he had four more fights, losing three and drawing one. His last performance was the defeat to Frankie Edgar, in September 2014.
Rodriguez, in turn, is going through the opposite phase. At just 24 years old, he won the five fights he had in the UFC, the most recent against Alex Caceres, in August 2016. The 'Pantera', as he is known, is the champion of the first edition of TUF Latin America.
In the second main fight of the night, the lightweights Joe lauzon and Marcin Held face each other with an eye on recovery in the category. Since 2006 in the UFC, Lauzon has accumulated 13 wins and nine losses in the organization, while Held, a former Bellator, still doesn't know what it means to win in Ultimate: in his debut, last November, he was surpassed by Diego Sanchez.
In the preliminary portion, bantamweight Augusto Tanquinho, the only Brazilian representative on the card, faces North American Frankie Saenz. In the only time he played in the UFC, Tanquinho was knocked out by the new champion cody garbrandt, in February 2016. Saenz was also knocked out in his last appearance, against Eddie Wineland, in July last year.
Check out the UFC Phoenix technical sheet below:
DATE AND TIME: 15/01/2017, from 21pm (Brasília time)
PLACE: Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, United States
STREAMING: Combat Channel
MAIN CARD
Featherweight: Yair Rodríguez x B.J. Penn
Lightweight: Joe lauzon x Marcin Held
Welterweight Weight: Court mcgee x Ben Saunders
Flyweight: John Moraga x Sergio Pettis
PRELIMINARY CARD
Bantamweight: Frankie Saenz x Augusto Tanquinho
Heavyweight: Aleksei Oleinik x Viktor Pesta
Lightweight: Tony Martin x Alex White
Lightweight: Devin Powell x Drakkar Klose
Strawweight: Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger x Nina ansaroff
Heavyweight: Walt Harris x Chase sherman
Lightweight: Bojan Mihajlovic x Joachim Christensen
Heavyweight: Dmitry Smolyakov x Cyril Asker
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