By Chris Howie
MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer

Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn will finally get into the cage against Rory MacDonald on December 8th after their first scheduled bout fell through due to MacDonald suffering a cut in training.

Penn spoke about the fight with MacDonald as well as his desire to compete against Tri-Star gym trainer Firas Zahabi once against at UFC on FOX 5:

“Training is coming along, I couldn’t be happier with how everything is going,” said Penn. “I’m in the gym trying to put in my time and I’ve used the last few months to get into shape. I think it was a blessing that the fight got pushed back (from UFC 152). I’ve had more time to train and I’ve been able to work out more. We’re giving it an honest effort and we’ll see how everything works out.”

“I wanted to have another match against Tri-Star and head coach Firas Zahabi and it’s not being done because of any bad blood,” admitted Penn. “I feel like I have more to show them and without a doubt Rory has a lot of hype surrounding him. I can see why, he’s done great so far. He’s in great condition, he can kick, punch, he can wrestle and he knows how to fight on the ground. Everyone is saying he’s going to be one of the top guys and those are the guys I like to fight. It works out two ways for me; I get to face a really good opponent and I get to compete against Firas again.”

Props: BJPenn.com

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