A major cut suffered in training that required several stitches will keep Rory MacDonald from a highly anticipated welterweight fight against B.J. Penn at UFC 152 next month.
UFC President Dana White on Saturday told MMAjunkie.com of the injury following Saturday’s post-event news conference for UFC on FOX 4, which took place at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
MacDonald (13-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and Penn (16-8-2 MMA, 12-7-2 UFC) had been booked for the main card of UFC 152, which is set for Sept. 22 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
White said MacDonald’s cut is over his left eye and said he only found out Saturday night. White said UFC matchmaker Joe Silva showed him a picture of the deep cut.
White also said he has not yet informed Penn that MacDonald is out of the fight and doesn’t know if Penn will remain on the card.
“Rory’s out. He got cut open today. Wide open – 38, 48 stitches, something like that,” White said. “No contact for a month. (The fight is) off. I found out tonight, halfway through the show.”
Penn announced a somewhat informal retirement after a unanimous decision loss to Nick Diaz at UFC 137 in October 2011. But MacDonald was able to lure him out for the fight earlier this summer, calling out the former two-division champion.
In recent weeks, the fight was in the news when both fighters agreed to undergo regular pre-fight drug testing through the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.
Story Courtesy of MMAJunkie.com
