It has just been announced that Ricardo Lamas will face BJ Penn at UFC Fight Night 97 headline fight taking place in Manila, Philippines.
JUST ANNOUNCED:#UFCManila Main Event??
Early Bird ??s On Sale NOW: https://t.co/c008Le9lgE pic.twitter.com/Xc55ctii8N
— UFC Asia (@UFC_Asia) August 15, 2016
Two featherweights will duke it out October 15th.
Penn has won a single match int he last 7 years, the one match he won was against Matt Hughes.
BJ Penn is somewhat of a legend and he had retired several times before attempting a comeback this past January. However this comeback was rescheduled twice.
The first time it was following an investigation into alleged sexual assault – which he denies and then following a 6 month ban from USADA for the unsanctioned use of an IV.
Ricardo Lamas, 34, has a professional record that stands at 16 wins and 5 loses. His last ghit was a loss by decision at UFC 199 featuring Rockhold vs Bisping.
Neither fighter has made personal announcements at this point.
However there are interesting revelations regarding his IV use. He told mmafighting:
After my fight got cancelled, a couple of fighters invited me to come down to Dallas with them to meet with these same doctors. I thought, ‘why not’ as I have had prior concussions, I deal with vertigo, and well you have seen how many times I have been hit during my career. I figured if there was any chance that this could help my vertigo, motion sickness or maybe even improve my vision, as I have a lens from a previous cataract, then this was a good thing.
We were doing some of the different exercises for vision, motion sickness, and vertigo and then, following my physical, one of the doctors suggested that I take a glutathione IV. They said that after doing a physical on me and taking a look at my symptoms, a glutathione IV would be great for me. They told me that having the glutathione administered through an IV would be the best way for my body to absorb the antioxidant.
Penn was reportedly aware of the consequences of taking a USADA banned substance, so he made sure that glutathione was not listed in USADA’s banned list. But neither Penn nor doctors checked out to see if IVs were banned.
