BJ Penn vs Kenny Florian must wait until late summer

Published on: 24th February, 2009

BJ Penn vs Kenny Florian must wait until late summer | read this item

BJ may make KenFlo wait a bit longer

We all expected to see BJ Penn face off against Kenny Florian at UFC 99, but it appears that the bout may actually take place a lot later than that. Penn today said that he needs more time to prepare for a fight against Florian due to the fact that he wants to spend more time at home with his newborn daughter Ava.

Sherdog.com spoke to the UFC Lightweight champion’s brother JD Penn who confirmed that the fight was too soon for BJ.

“No, it’s too close to BJ’s last fight,” the elder Penn wrote in a text message. “He wants to spend time with his baby.”

“We are still negotiating the fight,” the elder Penn said. “No date [is] scheduled, but we are thinking late July or early August.”

Kenny Florian also spoke about having to wait longer for his title shot against BJ Penn.

“For me, it’s the fight that I want and it’s the fight he wants and we both need to come to terms on it, so if that’s what I need to do to make it happen, if I have to wait, then I have no choice,” he said.

While this comes as a disappointment to most fans I am sure most want to see Penn rebound mentally and physically before entering the Octagon against Florian.

As soon as a date is rumored or officially announced we will let you know as usual.

Alberto Martinez "The Narcisist" is the founding owner of URDirt.com. If you would like to post on the front page or in our New "Fan Jab" section all you need to do is register. Read more from this author

Readers Comments

Hellboi says:

February 24, 2009 at 4:58 pm Hellboi(Quote)

BJ doesn’t want to take a loss again so he is stalling

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- Nemesis says:
  
  February 24, 2009 at 5:00 pm Nemesis(Quote)
  
  @Hellboi, please he is gonna kill Kenny any way this just stops him from officially being a gate keeper
  
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Toby says:

February 24, 2009 at 6:08 pm Toby(Quote)

BJ is not a fighter! He is a rich boy and a quitter. He wanted to quit when he thought he was going to beat GSP, so he could say he went out on top although all that would say to me, is he’s a piece of shit, paper champion, who is scared to lose.
He quit after he beat Hughes the first time, because he didn’t want to risk losing to him, like he did when he rematched him.

Don’t get me wrong I WAS a fan of B.J.’s, but all the stuff this dude does, it makes it hard to root for him.

I’m glad to see at least he’s thinking Ken Flo can beat him, because I’m pretty sure he can AND will!

So no excuses when he loses. It’s bullshit though, if he’s going to postpone and postpone until he finally retires again and then had the lightweight title held up that long. He’s making the lightweight division like it was before, inconsequential. I wonder how long it will be until he quits already or fights, before fans get fed up with the lw division altogether and it goes away once again or maybe gets moved to WEC.

Really, what good fights do they have at welterweight? I remember when Joe Daddy fought BJ for the vacant belt. I like Joe Daddy and BJ, but what a lackluster fight. It was like BJ/GSP II (and don’t give me the b.s. vaseline gate defense).

Shit, I am really getting tired of the lightweight division altogether.

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Toby says:

February 24, 2009 at 6:12 pm Toby(Quote)

*Obviously this was “Really, what good fights do they have at lightweight?” *

(but b4 someone responds and complains)

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Serial says:

February 24, 2009 at 7:50 pm Serial(Quote)

BJ is so greedy he takes off so he can fight GSP now he takes off and holds Ken flo at bay for more time WTF??

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Dee king1 says:

February 24, 2009 at 7:51 pm Dee king1(Quote)

I want Kenny to beat his ass so we can see the LW belt defended more then once every two years this is getting out of hand just strip him stop being a pussy Dana

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