Former UFC champions BJ Penn (15-7-1) and Matt Hughes (45-7) will meet for a third time when the two square off at UFC 123.
The news was confirmed by MMAFighting.com after rumors of the matchup surfaced on Monday on CagePotato.com.
The welterweight bout will take place at the yet to be officially announced UFC 123, which goes down at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan on Nov. 20.
Both of their previous meetings have been fought for the UFC welterweight title with each fighter holding a win over the other. Hughes holds the last victory, defending the welterweight title at UFC 63, defeating Penn by TKO (punches) in the third round. While Penn earned the first victory by submitting Hughes by rear-naked-choke at UFC 40 to earn the Hawaiian his first UFC title.
Penn is coming off back-to-back lightweight championship losses to Frankie Edgar at UFC 118 and UFC 112. “The Prodigy” has stated that he wanted to come back quickly to face a big name and now has it in Hughes. Penn has fought for either the UFC lightweight or welterweight title in his past seven fights going 4-3 overall in those bouts.
The UFC Hall of Famer, Hughes, has shown a resurgence in his career after losing back-to-back matches to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 79 for the UFC interim welterweight title, and to Thiago Alves at UFC 85 in a 174 lbs catchweight bout. Since those losses he’s earned three straight wins against some tough opponents. He’s defeated Matt Hughes at UFC 98, Renzo Gracie at UFC 112, and earned his first “Submission of the Night” bonus for choking out Ricardo Almeida at UFC 117.
UFC 123 is expected to be headlined by a light-heavyweight bout between another set of former champions, Lyoto Machida vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.