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Dana White confirms Hall of Famer B.J. Penn to face Dennis Siver at UFC 199

Dana White confirmed that B.J. Penn will face Dennis Siver at UFC 199. (Getty Images)
Dana White confirmed that B.J. Penn will face Dennis Siver at UFC 199. (Getty Images)

UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn will return to the Octagon for the first time since he was stopped by Frankie Edgar on July 6, 2014, when he faces Dennis Siver at UFC 199 on June 4 in Los Angeles. UFC president Dana White confirmed the news to Yahoo Sports on Tuesday.

The fight was made after an internal UFC investigation into sexual assault allegations made against Penn could not be substantiated, according to Lawrence Epstein, the UFC's chief operating officer.

An ex-employee of Penn's website accused him on social media of sexually assaulting his girlfriend. No charges have been filed. Penn has denied wrongdoing.

"We have taken a look at the available facts, which aren't too substantial, and there are two stories of what happened," Epstein said. "To date, there has no action at all taken by any law enforcement agency. We decided to allow B.J. to fight. However, we are going to continue to monitor to the situation. If new information, more information, becomes available to us, obviously, we reserve the right to re-evaluate."

Penn, 37, announced his retirement after his loss to Edgar, his third in a row and his fifth in his last seven fights, a run in which he's just 1-5-1.

He was inducted into the UFC's Hall of Fame in July.

But in January, Penn showed up at JacksonWink MMA in Albuquerque, N.M., and began training. In March, coach Greg Jackson praised Penn during an interview with MMAjunkie.

"He’s still just training, progressing very nicely," Jackson said. "He’s really starting to look really good."

Penn is widely regarded as the greatest lightweight in MMA history and is just one of two men, along with Randy Couture, to hold world titles in two weight classes in the UFC. Penn was both lightweight and welterweight champion during his career.

UFC 199 will be held at The Forum in Los Angeles and will be headlined by the rematch for the middleweight title between Luke Rockhold and ex-champion Chris Weidman. Dominick Cruz defends his bantamweight title against arch-rival Urijah Faber, and Dustin Poirier meets Bobby Green.