B.J. Penn file photo: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com
The UFC announced an attention-grabbing co-main event and confirmed the headline fight for the UFC 123 card on Nov. 23 in Detroit.
The promotion announced that B.J. Penn, coming off his second consecutive loss to Frankie Edgar at 155, would return to welterweight to face former rival Matt Hughes in a trilogy fight. Penn famously defeated Hughes in 2004 to take the 170-pound title, a loss Hughes avenged in 2006. Penn, whose future was uncertain following his UFC 118 loss, said in a video blog on his web site that the fight was one he could not refuse and was offered to him after a lightweight opponent the UFC had in mind was injured. Hughes had said after his August win over Ricardo Almeida that he planned to take the rest of the year off.
The UFC also confirmed this week that UFC 123 will be headlined by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Lyoto Machida. UFC President Dana White hit Detroit this week to kick off the hype campaign for the event, the UFC’s first in the state since UFC 9 in May 1996. Tickets went on sale Friday.