B.J. Penn vs Kenny Florian at UFC 101?

Kenny Florian recently appeared on "MMA Live" (ESPN.com, link below) and addressed his as-yet unscheduled title fight with B.J. Penn.

Florian seemed to be a bit frustrated at the lack of progress in scheduling the bout, and basically pleaded for B.J. Penn to agree to a time and place to fight.

Rumor has it that the fight is now tentatively scheduled for the main event of UFC 101, which is rumored to take place at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.

Kenny Florian is clearly excited at the prospects of headlining this event, but B.J. Penn will need to agree to the fight before this happens.

Dana White reportedly had a phone conversation with B.J. Penn, in which the president of the UFC told Penn to "get your ass back into the gym and start training".

Penn has clearly been preoccupied with his complaint against Georges St. Pierre and "Greasegate", and seems to be in no rush to return to the Octagon, much to the chagrin of both White and Kenny Florian.

Florian earned his title shot with a savage beatdown of Joe Stevenson at UFC 91, and has been patiently waiting in the wings since then.

Florian waited as Penn moved up to Welterweight to challenge Georges St. Pierre, and is now patiently waiting for Penn to agree to a fight for the lightweight title.

There were rumors that the two would square off at UFC 99, but Penn reportedly wanted to spend time with his newborn baby daughter, Aeva. His camp was reportedly open to a date "sometime in the late summer", which set up the possibility of UFC 101. However, nothing has been formally agreed to as of yet.

Penn's last lightweight title defense came in May of 2008, when he successfully defended against Sean Sherk. An August date against Kenny Florian would mean that Penn will have gone 15 months between title defenses, so you can understand why Dana White is so eager to have Penn step into the Octagon to face off against Florian in August.

Unlike other fighters in the UFC, Penn is not motivated by money and seems to be in no rush to step back into the Octagon. He has clearly been spending his energy on the Georges St. Pierre situation, but the time is coming for him to put that in the past and take the fight with Florian.

Source: MMA Live

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