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BJ Penn meets Yair Rodriguez in main event at UFC Fight Night in Phoenix

Published Dec. 9, 2016 1:26 p.m. ET

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Damon Martin

BJ Penn's long awaited return to the Octagon has been scheduled once again.

The UFC Hall of Famer has endured an arduous road back to the UFC after coming out of retirement and declaring that he was looking to fight again.

Penn is now set to face upstart featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez in the main event at UFC Fight Night from Phoenix, AZ on Sunday, Jan. 15 on FS1.

The matchup with Rodriguez is the fourth time Penn has been scheduled to fight since announcing his return, but circumstances have continued to keep him out of action.

Penn was originally rumored to return in April at UFC 197, but after assault allegations were made against the fighter, the promotion ultimately pulled him from the card. Penn was later exonerated and cleared to return at UFC 199, but then he admitted use of an IV outside of the rules in the UFC's anti-doping policy that earned him a six-month suspension.

Finally, Penn was just recently scheduled to fight Ricardo Lamas in the Philippines, but the former lightweight and welterweight champion suffered an injury that forced him off the card.

Now it appears Penn is healthy again and ready to resume his career, but he'll certainly have a tough test ahead of him in January.

Since winning "The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America", Rodriguez has quickly become one of the top prospects in the UFC while remaining undefeated in the Octagon with several impressive wins under his belt.

Most recently, Rodriguez dispatched Alex Caceres in his first UFC main event and now he'll go into his second headlining bout against a legend in Penn.

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