In what would be perhaps the most unlikely contest of the year, Ariel Helwani of ESPN reports that a fight between B.J. Penn and Ryan Hall is in the works to be booked for later in 2018. According to this report, the bout is currently unsigned and a date is also not finalized as of now.
B.J. Penn fought twice last year in his latest comeback to competition. He first main-evented UFC Fight Night 103 in Phoenix, Arizona against Yair Rodriguez, where Penn suffered a technical knockout loss in the second round. At that point in the legend’s recent history, he had lost his last four fights, so when he was booked to face Dennis Siver at UFC Fight Night: Chisea vs. Lee, the bout seemed to be a bit more commensurate with the level the then-38 year old was at in his career. Penn would lose this bout, too, however, by majority decision.
The 39-year-old B.J. Penn is one of the most respected names in the sport and was the first man to win two championships in two different weight classes in the UFC (welterweight and lightweight). He holds victories over names like Matt Hughes, Kenny Florian, Sean Sherk, and Jens Pulver among others.
Ryan Hall is a black-belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a high-level grappler who is always looking to implement a grappling-heavy game plan which would be an interesting strategy to use against B.J. Penn, who holds a fifth degree black belt in Jiu-Jitsu himself. Hall is 2-0 in the UFC and 6-1 overall, with his lone loss taking place in his MMA debut. His two UFC victories were unanimous decision wins over Artem Lobov and Gray Maynard.
Do you believe this fight makes sense for both Ryan Hall and B.J. Penn?
