Rory MacDonald suffers cut, out of UFC 152 bout with B.J. Penn

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

B.J. Penn's return to action may be in jeopardy, as the fighter he chose to return against is out of their bout at UFC 152. UFC President Dana White, speaking to reporters after the post-fight press conference for UFC on Fox 4 on Saturday night, revealed that Rory MacDonald has been forced out of their bout after suffering a major cut in training.

Per White, via several reporters on Twitter, revealed that MacDonald suffered a gash to his forehead while training, and he won't be healed in time to take the bout on Sept. 22.

That leaves Penn without an opponent at the moment, and there's no word on a replacement. The bout was to have been his first since losing to Nick Diaz last October, and now his return is in doubt. He had retired after the loss to Diaz, but the bout with MacDonald was one that intrigued him and got him to return to action.

Penick's Analysis: I honestly don't know where they go from here with Penn. He could delay his return to action and wait for MacDonald to heal up if that's the fight that he wants to take. Or, he could take a different opponent on the card, but who that would be at this point is hard to say. Would he take a fight with Siyar Bahadurzada? Doubtful. Would a rematch with Diego Sanchez interest him? Perhaps. Will the UFC break up a different bout to put a more interesting fight together? Maybe. It's hard to say what's going to happen next, and this is just really unfortunate news tonight.

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