Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion B.J. Penn is officially coming out of retirement.

On Tuesday morning, Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports revealed Penn had been booked to square off with Dennis Siver at UFC 199 in June.

Penn’s (16-10-2), who is one of only two fighters to win UFC titles in two different weight classes, has not competed since suffering third round TKO to Frankie Edgar at The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale in 2014.

This marked Penn’s first foray into the UFC’s featherweight after spending most of his career competing as a member of the lightweight and welterweight division. Penn announced his retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts immediately after the loss.

The Hawaiian was almost immediately inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in July 2015 during the UFC’s International Fight Week. Penn will enter this bout with 13 career stoppage wins, including finishes over Kenny Florian, Diego Sanchez, Matt Serra and fellow Hall of Famer Matt Hughes (2x).

His opponent, Siver (22-11), will be looking to right the ship after dropping a decision to Tatsuya Kawajiri in June 2015. Prior to this setback, the German based fighter suffered a second round TKO to reigning featherweight champion Conor McGregor in their main event matchup in January 2015.

To date Siver’s last win, came against Charles Rosa at UFC Fight Night 53 in October 2015, earning a Fight of the Night in the process. He will enter this bout with 14 career stoppage victories and a UFC record of 11-6.

UFC 199 will be headlined by two title fights, with middleweight champion Luke Rockhold taking on Chris Weidman in the main event and bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz facing rival Urijah Faber in the co-main event. The entire event goes down June 4 at The Forum in Los Angeles.

Here is how the rest of the card is shaping up:

  • (c) Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman – for UFC middleweight title
  • (c) Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber – for bantamweight championship
  • Bobby Green vs. Dustin Poirier
  • Evan Dunham vs. Leonardo Santos
  • Kevin Casey vs. Elvis Mutapcic
  • Luiz Henrique da Silva vs. Jonathan Wilson
  • Dong Hyun Kim vs. Polo Reyes
  • Tom Breese vs. Sean Strickland
  • John Makdessi vs. Mehdi Baghdad
  • B.J. Penn vs. Dennis Siver

About The Author

News Manager

José began his career as a mixed martial arts journalist while still enrolled at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University. Since graduating in May 2013, he has attended dozens of high profile UFC fight cards as a credentialed member of the media, providing live cage side coverage through his articles and videos. His work has appeared on UFC.com, ArizonaSports.com and AZCentral. He is also currently one of the main contributors on Power MMA Show at Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, one of the first all MMA radio shows on a major radio station.