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MMA

04th Feb 2016

For fans travelling to Las Vegas for UFC 196, BJ Penn has guaranteed that he’ll be on the card

The prodigal son returns... apparently

Darragh Murphy

One of the greatest of all time is just a month away from his comeback.

While there has been absolutely no confirmation from the UFC that the hall-of-famer is to compete at UFC 196, Penn reportedly “guarantees” that he’ll be fighting on March 5th.

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MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani reported the update on UFC Tonight but was unable to reveal the comeback opponent for ‘The Prodigy.’

All signs, though, point to fellow veteran Dennis Siver.

Penn has campaigned for a fight against ranked featherweight Nik Lentz who categorically turned down the chance to make a serious payday against the Hawaiian.

Siver is thought to be the top candidate to welcome ‘The Prodigy’ back to the octagon where he hasn’t fought since retiring in 2014, after losing three consecutive fights for the first time in his career.

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Frankie Edgar was the man who handed him his final defeat but Penn has claimed to have found a new lease of life under the tutelage of Greg Jackson.

Siver is also riding a losing streak, having been beaten by Tatsuya Kawajiri and Conor McGregor in his last two outings.

If confirmed, it will be a fascinating stylistic match-up as Penn was famously one of the fastest men to earn a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (just over three years) while Siver holds a very respected black belt in Taekwondo.