Ask and you shall receive: Looks like UFC welterweight contender Rory MacDonald will get his wish and fight the “best BJ (Penn)” at UFC on FOX 5 on Dec. 8.
A video uploaded from “The Prodigy’s” official YouTube channel on Thursday titled “175 Pounds – Almost On Fight Weight!!” shows off a lean, mean version of the Hawaiian.
The former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion can even boast about having noticeable ab definition in the video, a rare sight for a fighter who has often had the strength and conditioning portion of his fight champs questioned.
The two were originally scheduled to square off at UFC 152 in front of a Toronto, Ontario home crowd for “Ares,” but MacDonald was forced to postpone the bout due to a nasty cut suffered during training.
Despite being just 1-3-1 in his past five fights, Penn would be put right back into the title conversation with a win over a consensus top-10 welterweight like MacDonald.
Meanwhile, MacDonald, a Tri-Star gym training partner of UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, is riding a three-fight win streak, with his sole loss being a shocking come-from-behind effort by Carlos Condit.
The guidance of “Rush” could be particularly useful for MacDonald leading up to this fight, given that GSP holds two career victories over Penn.
Dec. 8 marks over 13 months outside of the Octagon for Penn, who retired after losing a lopsided decision to Nick Diaz at UFC 137 in October last year.
However, he found MacDonald’s challenge back in June just too intriguing to turn down.
Will the 33-year-old Penn be able to resurrect his career in two weeks, or will the 23-year-old MacDonald be too much for the UFC legend to handle?
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