Edgar-Penn III to take place July 6th at Mandalay Bay

The third battle between former lightweight champions Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn will air live and free on FOX Sports 1 on July 6th. The fight itself will take place inside of the Mandalay Bay Events center as part of a groundbreaking weekend for the UFC. The date, location and headliner were all confirmed by Ariel Helwani earlier this evening on UFC Tonight.

For their third international fight week in Las Vegas the UFC have really out done themselves. Of course you’ll have the Fan Expo along a plethora of parties throughout the city all weekend long. That’s just the beginning. On July 5th we get UFC 175, a pay-per-view event that will also take place inside of the Mandalay Bay Events Center. The weigh-ins for TUF 19 will actually take place at the Fan Expo itself, and the TUF 19 Finale will happen on the following night as stated above. So to make a long story short you’re getting two fight cards in one weekend in Vegas along with a chance to visit a Fan Expo that every UFC fan must visit at least once in their lifetime.

As for the third meeting between Edgar and Penn, this fight is still planned to take place at featherweight. This will be Penn’s first fight inside of the 145 lb division. His last fight took place at 170 lbs against Rory MacDonald back in the winter of 2012. This fight will come at the conclusion of the already taped TUF 19 series which features both men coaching two individual teams of middleweight and light heavyweight competitors vying for the chance to be called TUF champion along with a 6-figure contract.

Edgar defeated Penn in the two previous contests via unanimous decision. The first bout saw him beat Penn for the lightweight championship. The second would be his first defense. Since subsequently dropping the title to Benson Henderson in a similar situation, Edgar would drop to 145 for a fresh start. After losing his debut inside of the division, an immediate title fight against Jose Aldo, Edgar would earn his second fight of the night honor in as many fights at featherweight against submission specialist Charles Oliveira. He would emerge victorious and on July 6th, exactly one year to the date after his first win at 145 he’ll get the chance to beat B.J. Penn for a third time, in a third location.

image via MMAFighting