BJ Penn Responds to Rory MacDonald’s Injury, Both Fighters Still Want Fight [UPDATED]
By Chris Leslie on August 5, 2012
[UPDATE] BJ Penn has since released a statement responding to Rory MacDonald’s preference for UFC 154 rather than UFC 153. Penn stated via his website:
“Rory, with all due respect you challenged me to come out of retirement and I accepted. Then, you back out of the fight! Now you want to put our fight off for two-more-months, but this fight should happen as soon as the cut heals. 10-weeks from now is plenty of time. Let’s fight on Oct. 13th, that’s more than reasonable.” [UPDATE]
Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn has responded to the news of Rory MacDonald’s injury and he has requested the bout be delayed to UFC 153. MacDonald suffered the cut in training in preparation for their previously scheduled UFC 152 bout. BJ Penn issued the response through his website.
Penn stated:
“I am sorry to hear about the injury to Rory, this is a fight that got me out of retirement and one that I was looking forward to. I would like to wish Rory a speedy and healthy recovery and request a postponement of our fight to the Rio card.
To Rory, let’s stay with VADA and continue through with the program from now until we fight!”
The two fighters had agreed to enroll in VADA testing and will look continue their enrollment in the program to wherever their fight lands.
MacDonald released a picture of his cut (pictured) via instagram and issued a statement via twitter.
Today I was cut at sparring. I needed three layers of stitching in total, I needed 38 stitches. I’m very sad right now that I will not be healed in time to fight Sept. 22. I am hoping that BJ Penn will agree to have the fight on a later date in November.”
MacDonald is hoping for the fight to remain in Canada at the UFC’s return to Montreal for UFC 154 on November 17.
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First off let me say I hope Rory a quick recovery.
I hope Rory gets his way and this fight takes place at 154 in Montreal. Admittedly, it is for selfish reasons, I am planning on going to 154 and to get to see GSP vs Condit, Hendricks vs Kampmann AND MacDonald vs Penn would be awesome. Georges has always been my favorite fighter, and to get to see a ww showcase like this would be great.
While I like MacDonald more and think he will win the fight I have to agree somewhat with Penn. 10 weeks is plenty of time. MacDonald only want to wait until Nov so that he can fight in Canada which I don’t blame him.
Penn doesn’t want to give him anytime to prepare for the fight once the cut heals. It also looks like he doesn’t want to fight Rory in Canada anymore. They were going to fight in Toronto, so what’s the big deal if it gets switched to Montreal?
November 17 is more fair than October 13th. Both men will definitely have enough time to be fully prepared to fight. If the fight happens in Montreal, Rory will have time to train hard and make sure he’s fully prepared after the cut heals. If the fight happens in Rio, Rory may not be able to prepare himself to the fullest, since he’s strapped for time.
Plus, BJ’s a vet and he should be fine with fighting anywhere, no matter if it’s against someone in their own country. He’s been around long enough that fighting Rory in Montreal shouldn’t bother him. When the door closes it’s just BJ and Rory.
It’s also because Penn has been undergoing the drug testing program they agreed to while Rory still hasn’t fully enrolled yet.
@chrisl
I’m pretty sure I heard BJ say he was already doing it for 2 weeks or something?
BJ has, Rory didn’t start until around Thursday or Friday
@chrisl
I knew about BJ, I didn’t know Rory even started yet. I could see that getting under BJ’s skin and making him a little bitter. If it does get moved to November, would they continue doing it from now to then or would they stop and start over when it gets a little closer to the fight? I’m guessing they’d continue?
The way VADA works is that you have to restart 8 weeks prior to the event, considering what all they had to do to get it in place to start with it’s a big headache. Not to mention you have to notify the new commission (something they would not have to do if it were moved to UFC 153).
@chrisl
Thanks for letting me know about that. I wasn’t too sure how that all worked.
@five-alive
Idk I disagree. I think that MacDonald still has plenty of time to train for Penn if he takes the fight at 153. He has to wait a month to begin sparring, but he can stay in good shape over that month and keep his stamina up, and he can even still prepare for Penn as he had been. Then after his injury suspension he still has over a month to actually physically train for him between early September and October 13. I think Penn is being more than fair and MacDonald is actually the one being a bit selfish. But I bet MacDonald agrees with Penn and takes the fight in Rio in the end, because I think he’s a man.
@newfie
But I agree, if they do put MacDonald v Penn at 154 that will.be one of the sickest cards ever!
While I think it would make UFC 154 one of the hottest cards of the year (and with a GSP return vs. Condit, it’s already getting my vote!) and I absolutely see why Rory would want to have a career changing fight in front of his home crowd (duh!), I think BJ makes a valid point. The beast that he is, I don’t think we have to worry about Rory being under-prepared for an October bout as opposed to November. But hey Rory, it was worth a shot, right?
I think it would also be sick to see Penn in Brazil. I believe they respect him and it would be a very pro Penn crowd I bet. Can’t wait to see Penn all fired up with all that energy from the Brazilian crowds, can you imagine…