Rory MacDonald Out Of UFC 152 Fight Against BJ Penn, No Replacement Named

Rory MacDonald is out of his scheduled UFC 152 fight against BJ Penn.

UFC president Dana White told reporters following the UFC 152 post-fight press conference that MacDonald suffered a large cut in training above his left eye and will be unable to recover in time to compete at the Sept. 22 event in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

White said he does know know if Penn will remain on the card and if he does, it is unknown at this time who the former welterweight and lightweight champion will compete against.

According to White, MacDonald needed over 40 stitches to close the wound.

MacDonald last fought at UFC 145 in April, defeating Che Mills by TKO. Fighting Penn was a huge opportunity for the Canadian, but now he will be unable to fight the UFC legend due to the cut suffered in training. White did not say how long MacDonald would be sidelined due to the laceration.

Penn retired from MMA in 2011, but decided to come out of his retirement to fight MacDonald, an opponent who “The Prodigy” said he felt would be a significant challenge.

UPDATE: Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting managed to obtain a picture of MacDonald after receiving stitches from MacDonad’s manager, Lex McMahon.

UFC 152 goes down Sept. 22 from the Air Canada Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event is headlined by a flyweight championship bout between Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson.

The get the latest on UFC 152, click here. For up-to-date versions of all upcoming fight cards, head over to the rumors section.

Mike Bohn, founder and lead writer of FightCove.com, wrote this article. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @FightCoveMike. Also, follow @FightCove on Twitter and “Like” Fight Cove on Facebook.