St. Pierre vs. Penn in the works

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By Damon Martin, MMAWeekly.com

The life of a champion comes with many challenges including a seemingly never-ending list of opponents. It appears Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre already has his next challenger laying in wait for him.

Following an exciting night of fights at UFC 87, company president Dana White confirmed to the media in attendance that current lightweight champion B.J. Penn would move back up to 170 pounds to face St. Pierre, with most speculation landing the bout on the UFC's big year-end event in late December.

"They both really want that fight, they both want to fight each other," said White during the UFC 87 post-fight press conference. "I'm going to let that fight happen and then I'll figure out what we're going to do at 155."

White said "definitely" that St. Pierre's next challenge would come from Penn, but despite rumors circling that the fight could take place in the champion's hometown of Montreal, White responded, "probably not."

St. Pierre, who adamantly stated that he would not duck any deserving challenger, seemed more than content to put his welterweight championship on the line with Penn.

"I want to be a real champion, I want to be the best in the world," St. Pierre stated. "And to be the best in the world you need to fight the best in the world and I want to give a shot to everybody that deserves it. B.J. Penn deserves it, he's an incredible fighter."

Penn was said to be seen in the crowd at UFC 87 cheering on St. Pierre during his title defense against Jon Fitch. St. Pierre currently holds a win over Penn in 2006 via split decision.

St. Pierre mentioned during the press conference that many fighters, including Thiago Alves and EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields, as challengers that have also called him out recently, but Penn will get the next crack at the title.

"This is a big fight and they both want it and I think everybody wants to see it," said UFC president Dana White about the upcoming bout between St. Pierre and Penn.

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