{"id":183743,"date":"2016-01-26T10:34:13","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T18:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=183743"},"modified":"2022-02-04T16:16:20","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T00:16:20","slug":"bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/","title":{"rendered":"BJ Penn has verbally agreed to an opponent for UFC 197"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It looks like things are moving forward for our UFC Hall of Fame legend BJ Penn in his <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/bj-penn-officially-ends-retirement-i-want-that-145-pound-belt\/\">return to the Octagon<\/a>. With BJ training in New Mexico with some of the greatest MMA fighters in the world at the <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/members-of-jacksonwink-mma-academy-have-a-warm-welcome-for-bj-penn\/\">JacksonWink MMA Academy<\/a>, he is preparing to be his best and revealed some information on his next bout.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Prodigy&#8221; spoke with Kenny Florian and Jon Anik on the <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/anikandflorian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Anik and Florian podcast<\/a> on Monday. Penn revealed to the guys that he has verbally agreed to an opponent for UFC 197 but was not allowed to disclose who it was just yet.<\/p>\n<p>Anik tweeted:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BJ Penn has verbally agreed to the opponent. Dana White says the ball is moving forward but wouldn&#39;t allow Penn to break the news just yet.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jon Anik (@Jon_Anik) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jon_Anik\/status\/692003610222280704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 26, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It doesn&#8217;t sound like Penn&#8217;s opponent is Nik Lentz, which was the fight he was hoping for. Penn issued an offer to fight Lentz but it looks like the former cohort of <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/bj-penn-wants-to-return-and-fight-nick-lentz-at-featherweight\/\">Mike Dolce<\/a> has lost his opportunity for a big name fight with <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/nik-lentz-responds-to-bj-penns-callout\/\">his own demands<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you think BJ will be meeting in the Octagon on March 5?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It looks like things are moving forward for our UFC Hall of Fame legend BJ Penn in his return to the Octagon. With BJ training in New Mexico with some of the greatest MMA fighters in the world at the JacksonWink MMA Academy, he is preparing to be his best and revealed some information on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54422,"featured_media":182630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10086,2681],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BJ Penn has verbally agreed to an opponent for UFC 197 | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BJ Penn has verbally agreed to an opponent for UFC 197 | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It looks like things are moving forward for our UFC Hall of Fame legend BJ Penn in his return to the Octagon. With BJ training in New Mexico with some of the greatest MMA fighters in the world at the JacksonWink MMA Academy, he is preparing to be his best and revealed some information on [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-26T18:34:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-05T00:16:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Donald-cowboy-cerrone-bj-penn.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Russell Ess\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Russell Ess\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Russell Ess\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/38bb728c4095a34ce673601d63c55be3\"},\"headline\":\"BJ Penn has verbally agreed to an opponent for UFC 197\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-26T18:34:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-05T00:16:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/\"},\"wordCount\":179,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"MMA News\",\"UFC NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2016\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/\",\"name\":\"BJ Penn has verbally agreed to an opponent for UFC 197 | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-26T18:34:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-05T00:16:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/bj-penn-verbally-agreed-opponent-ufc-197\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"BJ Penn has verbally agreed to an opponent for UFC 197\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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