BJ Penn's Octagon Return Has Been Obscured Again

Despite the initial cries of woe, a lot of fans came around to the idea of BJ Penn returning to the Octagon by the time the UFC confirmed his bout for UFC 199–a featured preliminary bout against Dennis Siver.

Three weeks from their California clash on June 4, Siver has been forced from the card due to an undisclosed injury. Reports since have suggested that UFC is looking for a replacement to welcome back the former lightweight and welterweight champion in the place of the Russian taekwondo expert.

Had Siver met Penn at The Forum, it would have marked the first fight in over ten years that the legendary 'Prodigy' had not taken on someone that is not considered a title contender. UFC will no doubt look for a fighter of a similar elk to step in and rise to the occasion.

Obscured Again

Three months ago, Penn's initial return at UFC 197 was canceled due to a sexual assault accusation. Former BJPenn.com writer Alex Carrasco took to social media to claim that Penn had sexually assaulted his girlfriend, photographer Cynthia Vance.

Vance then also tweeted that she stood by Carrasco's statements about the event while stating that she "can't speak on what 'exactly' went down with the sexual assault". Vance confirmed that the alleged sexual assault took place while she was in Hilo to do a shoot with the MMA legend.

Carrasco revealed that there was an investigation taking place, and shortly after that UFC made a statement that withdrew Penn from UFC 197 while also outlining that 'The Prodigy' is "considered innocent until proven guilty".

"In light of the serious allegations, UFC has postponed plans to book Penn for an upcoming bout until more details are determined," the statement read.

"UFC holds athletes who compete in the organization to the highest standard and will continue to take appropriate action, if and when warranted. It is important to note that Penn is considered innocent until proven guilty and UFC is not prejudging this matter."

UFC Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein revealed that because the stories around the alleged assault "aren't too substantial" and because there had been no legal action, UFC would allow Penn to fight at UFC 199.

"We have taken a look at the available facts, which aren't too substantial, and there are two stories of what happened," Epstein told Yahoo Sports. "To date, there has (been) no action at all taken by any law enforcement agency. We decided to allow BJ to fight. However, we are going to continue to monitor to the situation. If new information, more information, becomes available to us, obviously, we reserve the right to re-evaluate."

Mixed Reactions

Like Diaz versus McGregor 2, the bout that initially headlined UFC 200 before UFC pulled McGregor from the event, there seems to be a lot of reconsidered despair when it comes to Penn versus Siver.

While there were plenty of people up in arms when they first heard about Penn's return, there is now a lot of concern from the fans as to whether they will get to see 'The Prodigy' take to the Octagon at all on June 4. There was no shortage of people criticizing UFC's choice to match Penn with Siver, but like in the case of Diaz and McGregor, now that it has been taken away the fans are crying out for the matchup more than ever.

The real selling point of the bout is the fact that Penn has moved to Albuquerque to train under the watchful eye of infamous coaching duo, Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn. His legendary ring name, 'The Prodigy' points to how easily Penn took to the sport, and with his early ascension in the MMA ranks it was believed that the Hilo native didn't put an enormous amount of stress into his preparation.

Replacements

Reports have suggested that UFC is still looking for a replacement for Penn, and so far there have been a few fighters that have put themselves forward that could be called upon by the promotion to step up to the plate.

One of the first people to declare an interest in the bout was Charles 'Boston Strong' Rosa. An aggressive fighter, Rosa has put together an even record of 2-2 since joining the UFC ranks back in October 2014. He took on Siver in his UFC debut in Sweden in October 2014 and despite a spirited showing, he was beaten by unanimous decision. He also came up on the wrong side of a split decision when he fought Mexican front-runner, Yair Rodriguez.

After seeing the news this morning when he woke up in Dublin, TUF fan-favorite Artem 'The Russian Hammer' Lobov has also thrown his name in the hat for a date with a man considered the consensus greatest lightweight MMA fighter of all time.

"If you let me fight you I will donate 50% of my purse to charity… Lets have a fight and help those in need," he tweeted.